


Unbowed

by kijilinn



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: A/O Dynamics, Abuse, Abuse warning, Alpha Centauri - Freeform, Aromantic Relationships, Baby making, Centaurians (Marvel), D/s, Explicit Sex, F/F, F/M, Forced Heat, Jealousy, Love Triangle, Sensuality, Thanos's Harem, Unrequited Love, Violence, Violence Warning, it's complicated - Freeform, love quadrangle, messy relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-23
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-05-12 23:10:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 16
Words: 38,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14737559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kijilinn/pseuds/kijilinn
Summary: Warnings for explicit girl-on-girl. This chapter can be skipped without missing much in the way of plot.





	1. Prologue and Chapter One

“Captain Furlan.”

Kris blinked and looked up from the screen that had been occupying his attention for the last hour. He was grateful for the break from bureaucratic red tape and shipping manifests, but was surprised to see his first mate, Esi Okorie standing at formal attention beside his desk. The formality was unnerving: usually, Esi was full of laughter and easy comradary, snuggles and teasing. She was easily the most gregarious member of his small crew and he wasn’t quite sure what to make of her rigid posture and firmly retracted Talhei crest. “Yeah, Esi, what’s up?”

The Centaurian shifted her feet almost nervously without meeting his eyes and said, “I have a personal favor to ask of you, Captain.”

Kris slowly tilted his head to one side and rubbed the back of his neck. “Okorie,” he sighed and she blinked, finally meeting his gaze, “just tell me what you want. I’ve had a long fucking day and I still need to finish this last manifest before we arrive in port on Xandar.”

Esi’s posture relaxed, but she didn’t seem any more comfortable with the situation. She hugged one arm in front her, tapping her dark blue fingers together. “I’m trying,” she said softly, “but it’s easier if it’s formal.” When he just watched her with his eyebrows raised, she sighed and squirmed. “Sir, I’d like to request the use of your reproductive capabilities.”

“Repro…” Kris stared at her as the meaning of her words sank slowly into his brain. “You’re asking to have my baby?” 

“I’ve already talked it over with Risa in the medlab,” Esi gasped and started to pace, her hands fluttering in complicated patterns that Kris thought might be the hand signs native to the Centaurian’s cousin race, the Sigma Centaurians. “She can take a sample and insert it directly for optimal insemination. You wouldn’t have to worry about any parental obligations; I can pouch them once they’re born and take care of them.” She paused long enough to look at him pleadingly. “I’m ready for this responsibility, sir. I’m ready and I want it. I just… I can’t get back to Alpha Centauri and it’ll take forever to screen a proper candidate and… well, you’re here and it would be so much simpler.”

Kris stayed where he was, still trying to process everything she was saying. “Wait a minute, you want to have my baby?” he repeated helplessly.

Esi stopped pacing to look at him in surprise. She took a little longer than before, her red-toned eyes searching his face and his body language, the way he was sitting and then her cheeks flushed dark purple. "Captain, I don’t mean anything untoward with this. My people only come together to reproduce. I’m not saying I have feelings toward you other than my immense respect and admiration for you.”

“And my people usually get married before they start talking about kids,” Kris said with a shrug. “We’re kind of coming from opposite ends of the spectrum here.”

“No,” Esi said with a sneer of disgust, “Sigmas and Alphas are opposite ends of the spectrum. The little sluts.”

They looked at each other for a few more moments and when Esi opened her mouth to say something, Kris rushed to interject, “I’m just really confused. I understand basically the ideas your people hold about relationships and child rearing, but I can’t for the life of me think of why you would want to have mine. Aren’t half-breeds taboo on your world?”

Esi looked away from him and hugged her arm to her chest again, rubbing her forearm. Kris realized most of her body language was below the neck: her Talhei hadn’t moved at all. That on its own was unusual, given how expressively she normally used it. Even now, she wasn’t reaching up to self-comfort by stroking it, the way she usually did. “I don’t want to go home,” she finally admitted in a soft voice. “I’m not exactly from a great family to begin with and I’ve been a slave for years. I don’t think there are many eligible prospects that would be open to me, even if I did go back.”

“Better a half-breed than no baby at all?” 

“It’s not like that!” Esi protested and Kris had the satisfaction of seeing her drop all remains of formality. She crossed the room and hugged him tightly, her crest flaring high and wobbling in distress. “I respect you,” she said, her voice muffled into his shoulder. “You’re intelligent and strong. You know how to make decisions quickly and you can even negotiate a good deal with the Broker.” Kris sighed and put his arms around her, rubbing her lower back just below the base of her crest. This was the Esi he and the rest of the crew knew. “Kris, I want a baby and I’d be really proud if that baby was yours.”

Kris sighed and reached to tip her head so she was looking at him, then kissed her forehead. “I’d be honored.”

Esi’s brilliant, sharp-toothed grin warmed him and Kris smiled back at her. “Thank you.” Almost immediately, she pulled back and started to pace. “So, if you can give a sample to Risa, she can implant it and maybe this god-awful aching will stop. It’s driving me insane and I’m about ready to fuck Lleeyis into the mattress until he stops bothering me--” She gasped when Kris caught her wrist and turned her back to face him, then kissed her. “Oh,” she said in a small voice. “Um…”

“I know the limits,” Kris murmured to her. “I know this is only a physical thing, but I’d rather enjoy it with you than jizz in a cup.”

“Are you sure?” Esi asked in a small voice and Kris grinned when he noticed her crest was rising steadily. “I mean, from what I’ve heard, our drive when we’re in estrus is kind of terrifying to singles.”

“I don’t mind a challenge.” Kris leaned in, then paused, his lips barely brushing hers. “As long as you’ll let me get some food and sleep once in a while…”

Her mouth met his and it was Kris’s turn to gasp at the intensity of her kiss. Esi brought her hands up to the sides of his face and held him there while she kissed him. They were close to the same height and Kris rocked a little with the sensation, dizzy and almost drunk. Slowly, reluctantly, she let him go again and Kris blinked at the shade her Talhei cast over his face, stretched tall and magnificent. The added expanse of bright red-orange put her height almost a full foot taller than he was and Kris felt briefly dwarfed by her sexual presence. “You know how I ask for a week off every three months or so?” she whispered in a husky voice and Kris nodded. “It’s because I can’t focus on anything when I’m in full estrus. I basically spend a week hiding in the closet with a vibrator. Do you have a week of leave to burn, Captain?”

“I do,” Kris whispered. 

“Are you sure you want to do this the old-fashioned way?” Her voice was almost a purr and Kris swayed towards her. He had never noticed how good her skin smelled, but it was utterly distracting now. 

“I’m not sure I can say no now,” he said in a small voice. He was straining against his fly, embarrassed by how fast he was reacting to her now that the agreement had been made. 

Esi looked at him seriously and pulled herself back a little so they could see each other at a more normal distance. “You can always say no, Kris.” She waited for his answer and when he just swayed closer, she gave him a short shake. “Captain, look at me.” Kris blinked and his head cleared a little until he could look at her just as seriously. “You can always say no,” she repeated.

Kris leaned back and realized that it was a little easier to breathe with distance. He backed away from her a few steps, then sat in a chair, trying to ignore the tent his pants were making. “I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to say yes,” he informed her, “but maybe we would be better off using Risa’s services. You’re not even in full estrus yet, are you?”

Esi smiled. “I’ve probably got another 48 hours before it hits fully. It’s bad now, but it’s going to so much worse then.” Her crest bobbed a little and she reached up to gently push it back. “That’s why I’m making arrangements now, when I still have the ability to focus.”

“How about this,” Kris said and leaned forward in his chair, elbows on his knees. “I give Risa a sample and we agree to three days. After three days, I go back to work and you finish out your leave.”

“That would probably work,” Esi said with a thoughtful nod. “Especially if she inseminates me beforehand. Then, I’ll have a chance to catch from that before running you into the ground.” She looked at him and her smile was warm. “This means the world to me, Kris. Thank you.”

“It’s my pleasure,” he smiled back.

* * *

It had been almost a week since Esi had been on regular duty. The crew tended to huddle and whisper, worried. They all missed her. Kris would have been lying if he said he didn’t. She had direct-messaged her request for medical leave and hadn’t so much as opened the door since she went in. 

Four weeks had passed since their liaison. She would know by now if the effort had been worth it. Kris shook his head slowly. So much rode on pregnancy for Esi’s people. Even removed by time and space from her roots, the Centaurian navigator craved the touch of her own people. She needed physical contact to stay healthy which she usually managed through regular friendly contact with the crew and periodic deep massages from Risa, the medical tech. But he knew it wasn’t the same: other races could stimulate her skin to generate the oils she needed to protect herself from minor abrasions, cuts, and infection, but they couldn’t supplement them the way other Centaurians could. They were a race bred and evolved to be a community. That evolution probably contributed to the Kree’s decision to enslave the Centaurians when they discovered the back water planet and its tribal people so many decades ago. The irony of enslaving individual Centaurians for the gladiator pits was not lost on Kris: solitude made the entire race crotchety, irascible, rough-skinned, easily scarred and vicious. They were almost constantly in a state of low-grade agony.

If she could successfully carry a child to term, Esi wouldn’t be alone anymore. The Centaurian tribal homeworld still held a violent taboo against mixed-blood children, but a half-blood Centaurian was better than being entirely alone. 

Kris reached and signaled at her cabin door. The comm flashed once for reception, but she didn’t speak. “Esi,” he said gently, “it’s Kris.” He could have addressed himself as her captain, her superior officer, her employer. Instead, he addressed himself as her friend and potentially the father of that child she was so hoping for. “Risa sent me. How are you feeling?”

“Empty.”

He let his forehead rest against the cool metal of her door. “Computer, command override, unit four-seventy-three.” The door slid open and he walked into the room. The main room of her quarters was a lounge with a few comfortable chairs and an entertainment unit set beside a small table with chairs and a food replicator. The sleeping chamber was just beyond and he walked to the door, paused and leaned in. Darkness wrapped the small, cone-shaped room. In the center of the room stood a small powered heating unit shaped and designed to resemble the central fire pits of Alpha Centaurian plains tribes’ huts. Hanging from one sloped wall, a six-foot long pouch swayed slowly with the movements of the woman inside. As much as it seemed odd to him, Centaurians slept vertically in pouches that mimicked the maternal pouches of their birth. Some of those who had been taken by Kree slavers when young preferred horizontal sleeping arrangements, but Esi had been taken as a teenager already accustomed to the sleeping pouches traditional to her people. “Esi?” he called quietly.

Her head appeared at the edge of the pouch, brilliantly blue with a slash of red down the middle of her bald skull. Her crest, the Talhei lay limply against her skin and he frowned. The Centaurians used their crests to communicate emotional and social wellbeing in addition to using them for sexual and aggressive displays. To see Esi’s Talhei so immobile was unusual and disconcerting. “What do you want, Kris.” Even her voice was flat.

“I want to help.” Kris sighed and came across to room to stand across from her. The pouch hung about head-height so talking to her while she was in the pouch was much like speaking to her when she was standing in front of him. “Everyone’s worried about you.”

“You tried to help.” Esi’s smile flickered briefly and died again just as quickly. “It didn’t take.”

Kris frowned and leaned closer. “This isn’t like you, Esi. I know you’re disappointed, but it’s not the end of the world.” He reached to touch her face with his fingertips. “We can try again.”

Esi leaned her head to let him touch her, then nodded a little. “As kind as that is, Captain, I would hate to take you away from your duties for so long a second time. Especially if there’s no guarantee of success.”

“There was no guarantee last time,” Kris pointed out. “There never is when you’re trying for a baby.”

Her eyes lifted to glitter in the dim light from the space heater and Kris bit back a smile. She was still in there. “Are you so eager to get back in the saddle?”

“I mean,” he said with a shrug, palms raised, “I hope I wasn’t that much of a disappointment in the moment. I did try my best, even if that was like trying to fuck uphill in a heavy downpour.”

“I thought you liked it juicy.”

“I do!” Kris grinned when Esi started to laugh, sounding far more like herself. “Please, Esi,” he added softly when she quieted again. “We miss you.”

With a long sigh, Esi wriggled out of the pouch and came to stand in front of him. She was naked, except for a loincloth. Kris tried not to let himself linger on her skin: she was dry and a fine powder of rough skin covered her body. With her pouch, she was essentially street-legal on any planet with nudity laws, but the condition of her skin distressed him. “What would you do for me?” she asked softly, sadly. “I appreciate the concern, Kris, but none of you can ease this. I ache for a baby and knowing I missed this chance with you… it hurts. It hurts a lot.”

Kris ran his hands down her arms and watched her face relax. “You didn’t miss any chance with me,” he whispered. “I’m not exactly dead and I’m willing to try again if you are.”

Before Esi could answer, the entire ship rocked sharply, throwing them against each other. “What the hell!?” she cried, then darted to turn off the heating cone.

Kris ran into her main living room and called, “Helm, status. What the hell, Gorjin?”

“We’ve got company,” the Krylorian pilot replied in a strained voice. “We need you up here, Cap.”

“Brief me on my mic,” he said, then looked back at Esi. He was pleased to see his first mate scrambling to dress. “With me?”

“Of course.”

Together, they sprinted through the halls of the ship while Gorjin filled him in via the implanted command mic. The ship firing on them was one of the mad Titan’s ships, a minor outrunner named the  _ Obliterator _ . Kris scrambled through his mental notes of why Thanos might want to target Xandarian shipping, but couldn’t come up with anything in particular. Without a reason, it was more likely whoever was captaining the  _ Obliterator _ felt like using Thanos’s intimidating reputation to harass normal folks. When they reached the bridge, they had already rocked twice more with shots fired and Esi had stopped briefly to put out an electrical fire in one of the safety panels. “Status,” Kris called to Gorjin as they came onto the bridge.

The Krylorian huddled at his station, rapidly trying to dodge the aggressive movements of the larger ship. “Shields are down on the aft quarter, but they’re slow as fuck, Cap. I can keep us spinning to present them shields, but we’re not going to last forever.”

“Have they hailed us?”

“No, sir.”

“Open a channel, Esi.” The screen flickered to life and Kris sighed, glaring down at it. “This is Captain Furlan of the Xandarian independent shipping vessel  _ Paiksykine _ . We ask for a cease fire. Repeat, cease fire and state your business.”

The face that stared back when the connection completed made Kris’s blood run cold. A strong jaw and hard, unfeeling eyes dominated a face that reminded him of the pink-purple bruises Gorjin had suffered after a fight with an angry Jopi--a Krylorian beast of burden. “Captain Furlan,” the hard-eyed woman half-purred, half-growled at him. “There can be no cease fire until half of your crew is dead.”

“I didn’t know Thanos had a sister,” Esi observed coolly from her station and Kris glared her into silence.

“And exactly how do you plan to verify the death of half my people?” Kris snapped at the woman on the screen. 

She shrugged slowly. “We have life signs readings on your entire ship. When half of those have gone dark, we will leave you in peace, Captain. And you should thank us. Your quality of life will improve after this.”

“Your logic sucks,” Esi shouted loud enough for the microphone to pick up her voice and the woman on screen jerked in surprise. 

“Esi!” hissed Kris.

The Centaurian snorted and stomped over so she could look at the screen from beside him. “We’re a shipping vessel. We have a specific number of crewmembers for a reason. Halving our crew puts us below prime working capacity, slows us down. We have one person doing the job of two or even three or four if the dead man was particularly skilled. We also have specialized jobs. Kill our head engineer and the rest of the engineering staff will have to triple-time to make up for his loss. That does not improve our quality of life and your logic sucks.” Her Talhei shook sharply, a warning rattling sound before popping up tall and staying there. 

Kris opened his mouth, then closed it again when the captain of the enemy ship started to laugh. “Oh, my lord will love you. Put her on an escape vessel, Captain Furlan, and we will leave you untouched.” 

“Out of the question,” Kris snapped.

Esi put her hand on his forearm and he twitched away, wary. “If she holds to her word on that,” she whispered, “there’s no reason to not. My life for the ship? For half of the crew? It’s an easy choice, Captain.”

Kris stared at her, his jaw a little slack. “Esi, no. No way.”

She smiled at him. “If it makes her leave you alone, it’s worth it.”

“I’m not handing you over to Thanos’s baby sister.”

“Incidentally,” the woman on the screen muttered, “I’m not his sister.”

Esi turned to face her and said, “I accept the terms. Cease firing and back off two jumps. I’ll jettison myself and you can pick me up after the  _ Paiksykine _ has completed her jump.” When the woman nodded, Esi ended the transmission.

“No!” Kris grabbed her to turn her toward him. “Dammit, I’m not leaving you here.”

“Yes, you are.” Esi patted his cheek and leaned in to kiss his forehead. “Captain, be reasonable. Think about your crew and your responsibility to them. One life in trade for 87? Let me do this.”

Kris cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. “I’m not leaving you here,” he breathed roughly and Esi laughed.

“You’re not in love with me, Captain,” she chided him gently. “You’re romanticizing our attempts to reproduce. Failed attempts, I might add. I’m going to do this because I know it’s right. Please don’t try to stop me.” Before he could reach to hold her more securely, Esi slipped under his arm and vanished down the hallway. 

“You’re not going to let her… are you?” Gorjin asked in a small voice.

“He has to.” Kris and his navigator looked up to the communications officer, an older Krylorian man with a sad smile and skin the color of a Xandarian newborn. It never ceased to amaze Kris that what his people called an “innocent glow” was just a sign of old age to others. “She’s right, Captain. Her life in exchange for the crew is simple. She’s going willingly and she’s made the choice for herself. You know how stubborn Centaurians are and Esi in particular. She won’t back down.”

Kris closed his eyes and nodded. “She won’t. Doesn’t mean I don’t feel like a shit for letting her, though.”

“We all do,” the communications office whispered. 

They all winced at the sound of a jettisoning escape pod and Gorjin reported sadly, “She’s away and clear of our backwash. If we’re going to jump, we should do it now before the  _ Obliterator _ comes back.”

“Take us out,” Kris mumbled and rubbed his hands over his face with a sigh. “May all the Gods grant us a chance to fix this someday.”

“Just don’t pray to the Titans for it,” snorted Gorjin.


	2. Chapter 2

Esi watched the  _ Paiksykine _ blink out of existence. She watched her captain and her crew leave her behind. She closed her eyes and reached up to press her Talhei flush to her scalp. When she was upset, the crest liked to stand up about halfway and tremble, a habit she remembered her mother scolding her about. So many years ago. Now, she was trembling over the loss of her family all over again. 

Kris. Gorjin. Risa. Tally. K’kcha. 

Kris. 

Her Talhei jerked under her hand and Esi hissed irritably at it. Sometimes it did have a mind of its own. She had meant what she said to Kris about his not being in love with her, about only romanticizing their physical relationship. What she hadn’t meant was that she wasn’t in love with him. She had been for a while, even before their attempts to get her pregnant. He was worth loving: strong, caring, funny, intelligent. She respected him and adored him, much like the rest of the crew. But if he had asked her to stay with him, to raise their child and maybe more together, to be long-term life partners, she would have said yes. Esi covered her face with her hands and sighed. “Get over it,” she whistled at herself. “It never would have worked anyway.”

Her pod jerked as the Obliterator’s tractor grapple took hold of it and began to draw it into the docking bay. She tried not to think about what was probably in store for her. She actually did know who was reeling her in, though she wouldn’t have given her the satisfaction of admitting it in front of Kris. Terraxia the Terrible had almost as big a reputation for insanity and cruelty as her progenitor, but if what Esi had just watched was any indication, Terraxia wasn’t nearly the strategic genius Thanos was. Nor was she impervious to embarrassment or humiliation. Esi let herself smile. It was something to keep in mind.

With a thud, the pod came to rest and Esi carefully stood up straight, forcing down her nervously flaring Talhei. After a long moment, someone banged on the outside hull and she released the door, deciding to take her captors head-on. She kept her hands to her sides and called, “I’m coming out. I’m unarmed.” No one answered, but no one shot at her either so Esi walked down the short steps and stood on the deck of the larger ship. 

Kree.

Titan-fucking Bride of Frankenstein had Kree working her ship.

Esi’s Talhei popped fully in alarm and she recoiled as the two armed Kree advanced on her. “No!” she found herself screaming. Her Talhei flared and shook uncontrollably as she retreated, her hands up. Instead of backing off, her guards stepped to her sides and took her by the arms, holding her in place. “Let me go!” she clicked frantically, falling back into Centaurian in her distress. “Don’t touch me!” Her skin crawled where their claws dug into it and she felt herself breaking into an icy sweat, memories hammering her and flashing over her. 

“Not so fiesty under guard,” a female voice purred and Esi froze in place, her Talhei still trembling. Terraxia grinned cruelly at her as she approached. “I have to admit I admire your willingness to face the unknown for your crew, though. You have spirit and Thanos will appreciate that.” Esi couldn’t find words to spit back at Thanos’s female clone, only managed a disgusted glare. “And pretty.” Terraxia reached out and lifted Esi’s jaw to admire her profile. “I hadn’t expected that.”

“Thought Centaurians all look like old shoe leather?” Esi hissed, finally finding her Common again. 

Terraxia smirked and released Esi’s jaw. “Take her to the cells,” she said to the guards in Kree. “Make sure she doesn’t have access to suicidals.” The Kree nodded and Esi tried not to struggle as they pulled her away down the hall. “Can’t have you harming yourself before I can present my prize,” Terraxia chuckled after her in Common again. “Get some rest, little Centaurian. You’re going to need it.”

The Kree roughly dragged Esi toward a corridor and she let them maneuver her, still feeling shaky and overwhelmed with memories. She had been a slave to the Kree for eight years before she had escaped and those memories were still close to the surface. Some people would say she had been lucky to escape the gladiator pits, given the Centaurian reputation but being forced to dance for their amusement hadn’t been much better. Her captors had allowed her contact with other people to keep her skin conditioned, so her beauty had been appealing. Dancing wasn’t the only thing she had been forced to do.

Esi shook her head sharply to push away the flashbacks and twitched when the guard on her right hissed something in one of the Kree dialects she wasn’t fluent in. The other made a short, chuffing laugh before a door in the wall swished open and they shoved her inside. The door shut and locked behind her, leaving Esi alone in the darkness of a small room barely wide enough for her to stand with her arms extended to either side. Once her eyes had adjusted to the dim light that crept in under the door, she could see the small drain in the floor, the equally small cot with a ratty blanket, the complete lack of ventilation or additional plumbing. “Guess I get to piss in the drain,” she whistled to herself in disgust. “Not even a chamber pot.”

The floor rocked under her and she listened to the deep thrumming of the engines as the ship got underway. Taking her further from her family. Again. Esi squirmed her way onto the narrow cot, curled herself up tightly and started to cry.

 

***

 

Rough hands dragged at her. She followed. Disoriented, afraid, she let them move her.

Was she a slave again? Freedom had been nice.

Kris wouldn’t have…

Esi took a sharp breath as her Kree guards moved her from her cell and marched her down the corridor of the ship again. Time had passed. She must have fallen asleep on her cot. She shook her head to clear it and watched almost impassively as the Kree took her to the docking connection, through an airlocked passage and onto another ship.

A grand ship.

Grand enough to contain the ego that believed he held responsibility for the galaxy on his shoulders.

Terraxia was already on the deck, embracing and kissing Thanos. The Mad Titan held her with the kind of tenderness a craftsman might show for a particularly useful tool, a farmer for a prize animal. Respect and anything more than superficial affection were not present in his treatment, though Terraxia appeared willing to take whatever her lord would offer. 

In spite of herself, Esi was intrigued. 

Thanos released his clone and turned to regard her gift instead. “A Centaurian?” he asked Terraxia, his tone skeptical.

“She will amuse you, my lord,” Terraxia smiled. “Her wit is quick. I thought you might enjoy breaking her, for that matter. She has the Centaurian stubbornness.”

Thanos left Terraxia and stood in front of Esi, his eyes considering before he reached one massive hand down to lift her face by the jaw, just as Terraxia had done on the ship earlier. “Pretty,” he mused thoughtfully. “Even by Xandarian standards, she’s very finely featured. I didn’t know the Centaurians bred for beauty.”

“We don’t,” Esi spat. “We breed for intelligence, strength of will, and vocal range.” She flicked her tongue against her teeth and lips to rip her whistle through the octaves she could reach, respectable even among her own people. Thanos’s eyebrows raised in consideration while Terraxia winced and several of the Kree hissed their irritation at the sound. “Beauty’s just a side benefit. Not that you’d know.”

The entire reception bay went still. Every Kree in the room stared at Thanos, waiting for a reaction. Even Terraxia seemed to be holding her breath. Thanos closed his eyes, took one long breath in, then out again before turning to Terraxia. “Bring her to my chambers. Breaking her may be fun.”

“Break your toys and you can’t play with them anymore,” Esi spat after him. “Didn’t your mother ever teach you that? Was she as ugly as you? Or are you just special like that?” A wild finger of courage teased at her and Esi jerked forward in the hands of her guards, who clung to her nervously. “Or did you get your looks from Daddy?”

Thanos turned back to stare at her, then slowly smiled, showing her the barest hint of his teeth between his lips. “Oh, you will be fun. Nicely done, Terraxia.” He fondly petted Terraxia’s hair before he vanished from the room and left Esi to the mercy of two dozen jumpy Kree and one particularly sadistic Titan clone.

Terraxia turned on her heel as soon as Thanos was gone and stormed back toward Esi. Before Esi could prepare herself, the tall woman backhanded her across the face, spinning her world and dropping her to her knees. “You will not speak of my lord’s family,” she snarled. “He may have mercy on you, but the only mercy you’ll get from me is a quick death.”

Esi paused, working her tongue around the inside of her mouth. She wasn’t bleeding from the hit, but her jaw ached. Slowly, she looked up at Terraxia and bared her teeth in a vicious grin. “Then kill me now. Because I won’t stop, no matter what you say.”

Terraxia’s eyes flashed and Esi wondered what it might be like to die. But the clone turned away. “Take her to his chambers,” she growled in Kree. “Get her out of my sight.”

“Yeah, you better run!” Esi yelled after her as her guards took her arms and dragged her off again. In spite of herself, a bubble of hysterical laughter slipped out and Esi looked at the guard on her right. “You’re all egg-cracked if you listen to her,” she informed him in Kree. He jerked and stared at her in surprise. “I know more than my boring face lets on.” Both of the guards shuffled their feet a little, then started walking faster as Esi indulged herself in another peal of wild, unnerving laughter.

 

***

 

“Do you think they’ve killed her?”

Kris sighed in frustration and turned his chair toward Vatta, one of the Xandarian engineers where she stood by the back rail of the bridge. “Don’t torture yourself, Ensign.” She was a pretty little thing, barely clearing five feet and with a pixie haircut that framed her face in parentheses of gold. Her black eyes darted to his face and she shrugged with a helpless smile. “I don’t think so. It sounded like they wanted her alive, though I’m not sure how much better that is.”

“Not very,” intoned Gorjin from his pilot’s seat. “What do you want us to do, Cap? Should we try to track them? Find out where Thanos is based?”

Kris rubbed his temples with one hand. “We’re not exactly an assault team. We finish our run, get paid, then reconsider our options. If we have to hire someone to extract her, I will. I’m not leaving her there with them.” 

“The baby didn’t take,” whispered Vetta, “did it? That’s why she was avoiding us.”

“No,” Kris confirmed in a small voice. The ache in his chest was almost as much for himself as it was for Esi. It surprised him how badly he had wanted to know she was raising his child. 

“It’s why she sacrificed herself,” Vetta added.

“Probably.”

Vetta let out a shaking breath and put her head down on her wrists for a second, leaning on the railing. When she looked up again, her face was streaked with tears. “Boss, when we find her again and get her back, will you fuck her for me? Nobody’s ever deserved a baby like Esi.”

Kris chuckled and shook his head. “She might be willing to let you fuck her yourself, you know.”

“Naw.” Vetta sniffed and wiped at her eyes. “I asked. She turned me down. I can’t give her babies. You can.”

“Fuck her for all of us, Cap,” Gorjin put in with a small smile. 

“You guys are the weirdest crew a captain could have,” Kris said, slowly shaking his head. “Yes, when we find her, I will do my level best to put a baby in her on your behalf.”

“It takes a village,” Vetta murmured with a little grin.


	3. Chapter 3

Esi’s laughter faded away as the Kree guards dragged her to a massive door and one of them unlocked it with a passcode. Whatever she might have expected to be in Thanos’s quarters, the plush couch and chairs arranged around a gaming table were a surprise.  _ The Mad Titan has friends over for coffee? _ wondered Esi, then jerked forward as her guards forced her through another doorway. The room they entered matched more of what she had expected: dim lighting, bare metal flooring, ascetic design. She flinched back from the obvious metal rings riveted into the walls and floor, even into the ceiling when she looked up. There were no chains attached to the rings, but she assumed they were in storage until needed. Sort of like his harem.

“Down,” hissed one of the Kree in his own language. Esi realized she may have made a mistake revealing that she was fluent in Kree; now the guards would be more wary of talking in front of her. They pushed her down to her knees beside one of the rings in the floor close what looked like a digital interface station styled to look like a writing desk. They were not gentle as they pulled her wrists out of the mechanical binders, around behind her back, and then clapped more traditional metal hasps around them. 

When one of her guards vanished and returned with a heavy metal collar, Esi recoiled, hissing in spite of herself and her Talhei flaring wildly. “No!” she shouted in Kree. “Don’t you dare get that thing near me! I kill you with my teeth if I have to! I’ll flay your shells open for your children to see! I’ll gut you with your own claws and laugh at your screams!” Kree was excellent for intimidating threats, no matter how helpless she actually was. 

The guard with the collar spat a few words she didn’t recognize in that dialect she had heard them using before and together they struggled with her until they could shove her face against the cold floor and hold her still. Her Talhei continued to shake and flare and Esi tried desperately to keep her anger paramount, to not let in the creeping despair and horror as she felt the collar touching her skin. Even standard clothing put too much pressure on the flexible crest along her neck and back, requiring modification to avoid being in constant discomfort. The weight of the collar would crush her crest flat, making it impossible for her to move it without incredible pain. “Please,” she whispered in Common. “Please, don’t.”

“What’s going on here?” The collar clattered to the metal floor beside her head and Esi almost collapsed in relief. Her guards were chattering frantically in Kree; it was a dialect she knew, but their delivery was so panicked and rapid that she had trouble following it. Thanos stood over them, arms crossed over his chest and his face closed and still as he listened. When one of them managed to blurt what sounded like “broken,” Thanos’s eyes narrowed. “She is mine to break if I wish. If I wanted broken toys, I would play with Terraxia.” He swatted one hand down and one of the guards went rolling across the floor and against the wall. “You can tell her that, if you wish. Now get out.”

The guards tumbled over each other to vacate the room and Esi bent herself right down to the metal flooring, letting her forehead press there while she tried not to think about what might happen when she was alone with Thanos. Being spared the collar was a relief, but what worse things might he decide to do? She remembered hearing stories of Centaurians in the Kree gladiator pits being stripped of their Talheis entirely, having them replaced with mechanical implants to improve their vocal range and ability to more easily manipulate Yakka arrows or throwing knives. Would he prefer her without the crest? As bald and blue as his daughter, Nebula? She closed her eyes tightly and struggled to keep from crying. She suddenly missed Kris’s arms around her, Risa’s hands on her back during her regular massages, the friendly, cozy tangle of limbs and bodies that was her crew during rec hours. 

A giant hand touched the back of her head. One huge thumb slowly stroked down the length of her Talhei, smoothing it flat with a gentleness she hadn’t expected. “Did they hurt you?” Thanos asked her quietly. Esi held completely still, not sure how to respond. Instinctively, the touch relaxed her and flooded her senses with a familiar warming sensation, endorphins released into her bloodstream. It jangled horribly with the adrenaline still pumping through her. When she didn’t answer, Thanos repeated the stroking gesture and she closed her eyes tightly, confused. It took a few seconds for her to grasp what he was doing: he was petting her like a domesticated animal. She briefly wondered if he’d offer her his fingers to sniff like a nervous stray. “I didn’t think about the collar,” he murmured thoughtfully. “I should have told them specifically not to. I’m sorry.” Esi listened in silence as Thanos picked up the heavy collar and walked away with it. 

So, she was to be his pet. She wondered if he would have her chained beside his throne like some warlord with a violent animal. Esi shivered and curled more tightly against herself, her crest flattened and barely trembling. It would be favorable to being raped, but not by much. She longed for some way to lash out, a way to scream herself raw, to attack him, to get free somehow. But she had traded herself for her crew. Esi took a long, deep breath to push away her tears. She had traded herself for her crew. She would not risk his anger falling back on them.

 

***

 

“Broken toy.” Terraxia paced her quarters, trembling with rage. “How dare he. How could he? Broken… I’m not broken. I’m no more broken than he is.” She turned sharply and kicked out, sending one of the Kree who had reported back to her across the room in a tumble of limbs. “Repeat this to no one,” she snarled at the other, who nodded frantically. She swatted with her hand, a dismissal and an attack in one and both guards scrambled for the door. 

When she was alone again, Terraxia dropped herself down into the deep couch in her quarters to glare viciously at the wall. There was a smear of Kree blood there. She would have to get one of the maintenance slaves to clean it. How dare he call her broken? She was his clone, his equal, parallel of his own DNA. How could he claim she was broken without turning the same insult back on himself? 

She closed her eyes and sighed. She knew how he could. She was his clone but that didn’t mean she had shared his upbringing. She didn’t have his knowledge, his schooling, his decades upon decades of tactical mastery and experience. She was only a few years old herself, for that matter. He couldn’t expect her to be perfect.

She couldn’t expect it of herself.

“Stupid,” she hissed under her breath and stood again to begin pacing. “Uneducated. Not worth the trouble to educate.” Terraxia paused beside the window to stare out at the sprawling starscape of the asteroid. “Didn’t even remember to make me immune to vacuum. Why would he bother to educate me?” 

The bitterness of her own words lingered in her mind. She waited for it to clear, but it didn’t, so she sank deeper into the chair and closed her eyes. The bitterness would become pain soon enough and she knew where things would go from there. She could head her own downward spiral off and go kill a few Kree guards or she could just let it wash over her. Self-pity and a low, seething hatred both for her own pity and for her maker. She loved him, of course. She was made to love him. But she was smart enough to know it was her purpose and resent not having an option in the matter. She wondered if she would have loved him given the freedom to choose.

She’d never know now.

 

***

 

Thanos left her alone after he was certain the guards hadn’t damaged Esi in any way. He left her chained to the ring beside his desk and went to the station to work. Esi listened to him abstractedly as he manipulated the digital interface, doing research on targets and reviewing intelligence reports from his spies. Eventually, she let herself uncurl to lie on the floor, eyes closed and motionless. 

Perhaps two hours after he started, Thanos asked, “Are you hungry?” Esi lifted her head from the floor to look at him, felt her Talhei twitch and half-raise before settling again. She didn’t offer him an answer and put her head back on the floor with a sigh. If he was going to treat her like a housepet, she would return the favor. She heard him shift in the chair, the groaning creak of metal-on-metal as he turned it to face her and leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “Sullen silence doesn’t suit you.”

“Chains don’t suit anyone,” she shot back without looking up. 

“Would you like me to take them off?”

Esi looked at him then, surprised. Thanos was watching her earnestly, his body leaned forward and his attention fully on her. The look in his eyes made her blood run cold: utterly scientific, curious in a calculating, orderly way. It was not the look of someone regarding an intelligent creature. “Of course I want them off,” she finally said. “I spent eight years chained in a Kree dance pavillion. I thought I was free of Kree chains.”

Thanos considered her in silence for a while, then reached out and tugged on the end of the chain closest to the ring in the floor. “Come here.”

“No.” Esi rolled over to present him with her back. 

“Come here,” he repeated with quiet authority. “It can’t be comfortable to have your arms behind you like that.” 

When she didn’t answer him, Esi heard the chair creak again and sensed a shape at her back. Thanos reached down and rolled her onto her belly as calmly as a parent rolling over a truculent child. She hissed angrily and kicked her legs to roll over again, wincing as her weight crushed her Talhei under her back. “Don’t you touch me, you pussy-faced son of a diseased grass-eater,” she clicked and whistled. She waited and watched to see if her captor had any understanding of Centaurian, but Thanos gave nothing away. Instead, he knelt down on the floor facing her and watched her with his head to the side, his hands resting on his thighs.

“Your language is beautiful,” he said into the strained silence. “I had not realized how much music there is in the whistles. Do your people sing, too, or is just a form of poetry recital?” 

“What would you know of poetry?” she continued in Centaurian. “You wouldn’t know poetry if it bit your balls and licked your anus.”

“I visited a planet once where the people had three vocal passages. They could speak and sing in harmony with themselves. They used the tonality to convey emotion.”

“Did you kill them all, too?” Esi shifted and used her feet to scoot her farther from where Thanos sat. 

He seemed surprised that she had chosen to speak in Common. “I don’t approve of genocide,” he said quietly. 

“Then you must not have been reading the press releases on you.”

Thanos smiled and it made Esi blink. It was a genuine smile of amusement, the look of a man who gets a joke and appreciates it. “I prune,” he said and shrugged. “I take populations which can’t support themselves and take away what makes them unsuccessful: themselves. The only way to do it fairly is to choose them randomly and to take half. So I take half to allow the survivors to flourish.”

“Your logic sucks.” 

Thanos actually chuckled at that and shook his head. “I heard from a guard that you said the same to Terraxia. While her logic in destroying half your crew was faulty, mine is sound. You can’t deny that if a planet is overpopulated, the best way to allow it to recover would be to decrease the population. Would it be better if I decreased them by a quarter? A tenth? A tenth is too few; the others would repopulate to their previous level in a generation. Half forces them as a population to consider the vital elements of their society and strip away what else might be hindering them.” He paused and watched her face. “But you believe me mad, just like the others.”

“When you get a name like the Mad Titan, it does kind of color people’s first impression of you,” agreed Esi quietly. “Though I suppose it’s better than Ebony Maw.”

With a snort, Thanos reached forward, snagged her chain and pulled her to him. Esi clicked and hissed her displeasure, calling him everything she could think of. He turned her in his hands so she was facing away from him and Esi gasped when the manacles on her wrists opened and fell away with a heavy ringing sound. Before she could react or struggle, Thanos turned her again to face him and wrapped a figure-eight of rope around her wrists. The loops closed firmly and he tied another length of rope to the center of the figure-eight before attaching the other end to the ring in the floor. “My mother was many things,” he told her quietly, “but a pox-ridden gullyfowl was not one of them.”

He stood and walked out of the room while Esi sat there on the floor, stunned and staring.


	4. Chapter 4

Esi hadn’t expected rope. She hadn’t expected a lot of things about her situation so far, but the rope was definitely a surprise. The disappointment came from her discovery that, in spite of the size of his fingers, Thanos tied simple but impossibly solid knots. “It can’t be that hard to untie,” she clicked under her breath as she trying to find an edge to the rope that would give. After an hour, she still hadn’t found the rough end of the rope and her fingers ached from struggling with it. 

The door swung open and she hissed in surprise, rolled herself against the side of the desk and crouched there with her Talhei half-raised and rattling in wary aggression. A pair of women slipped inside the room, a Xandarian and a Krylorian so alike in appearance that they had to have shared a parent on one side or the other. The Krylorian held a tray of food while the Xandarian carried a pitcher and a set of cups: three small ones and a large one scaled to fit Thanos’s hand. Without speaking, they knelt within reach of Esi’s ropes and laid out the food and what proved to be a very fragrant, spicy-smelling tea. “Our lord will be arriving soon,” the Xandarian whispered as she poured tea into one of the small cups and held it out toward Esi. “He would appreciate an improvement in your manners. There is tea and pressed cakes. It isn’t much, but it is what we have to share and our lord bids us share it.”

Esi stared at her for a long time before edging out of her crouch and coming to kneel across from the women. She had seen slaves born to the life with less subservience in tone and manner. Reluctantly, she accepted the cup of tea and sniffed it cautiously. When she didn’t drink, the Xandarian poured more tea into the other small cups and served her companion before sipping from her own cup. “Is this all he gives you?” Esi finally asked and tasted the tea. To her surprise, it had a heat unrelated to the temperature of the fluid and she blinked away tears, her sinuses clearing abruptly. “Spicy tea and pressed cake?”

The Krylorian smiled and shook her head. She spoke in a lilting dialect of her native tongue, a language Esi had never had the opportunity to learn and her companion translated: “He gives us what we need and more. When there is more, he asks us to share. We have more.”

“You’re not chained or bound,” Esi observed quietly.

“We are not slaves,” explained the Xandarian and shrugged slowly. “Where would we go? Our lives are here.” 

Her companion added something in a soft voice, translated as, “Our lord is here.”

Esi stared. “You’re here voluntarily.” 

“Yes,” the Xandarian said with another slow shrug. “I was to be his daughter, as Nebula and Gamora are his daughters but I was not strong enough for the training. By the time he knew I could not bear that weight, our lord had already cleansed my colony and my family with it. He gave me shelter and a home.” She reached out and the Krylorian’s fingers laced through hers. “My half-sister, Peya was left alive after the purge and when I found her alone on the street, our lord answered my request to shelter her.”

Peya whispered something in her lyrical language and her half-sister smiled as she translated, “He gives us what we need and more.”

Slowly, Esi shook her head and took another sip of tea. The door opened again and she consciously refused to flee back against the desk, remained kneeling politely by the tray of pressed cakes. The two women had found their feet and rushed to greet Thanos as he came inside. He smiled at them and they spoke together briefly before he leaned down to kiss the Xandarian. Esi watched the exchange and hoped her disgust didn’t show on her face. It reminded her strongly of watching someone interacting with a pair of lonely housepets after a long day at work. Except for the kiss. The kiss was something else.

It went on. Peya rocked back on her heels and waited off to the side with her hands folded in front of her while Thanos kissed her sister. He framed her face with just the tips of his fingers, held still while she leaned up to kiss him. The difference in their height he adjusted for her, both leaning and crouching slightly. To Esi’s eye, he looked incredibly uncomfortable with the position, but he maintained it until the Xandarian woman broke the kiss, leaned in for one more peck to his lips and then another on his chin before she stood in front of him again, smiling. He smiled back at her fondly and ran one fingertip down her cheek before turning to regard Esi. “Do you like the tea?”

“It’s very spicy,” Esi said without inflection. Her eyes found Peya glaring at her, the most personalized expression either woman had managed since they had come inside. “But familiar,” she amended, “and very good. I don’t think I’ve had it before. What is it?”

“A blend Petra is fond of,” Thanos said and indicated the Xandarian, who smiled. “A grey tea from Io’s polar fields and… what was it again?” He looked down at her. “Dead pepper?”

“Ghost peppers,” Petra grinned up at him. “They’re a Terran variety. Leave it humans to domesticate and develop a palate for a poisonous berry.”

“Poison?!” Esi choked a little and wondered if she could force herself to vomit the tea up in time to survive the little she had drank. 

Petra chuckled. “Originally poisonous. As I said, humans domesticated them, crossbred them with milder varieties until consuming the fruits only causes the burn you experienced rather than illness or death.” Peya added something and Petra smiled with a nod. “Or indigestion, which does happen. Not all species handle the capsaicin well, but considering the things Centaurians eat without harm, I doubt you’ll need to worry about that.” She looked up at Thanos and asked, “My lord? Will you share with us?”

“Please.” Thanos knelt on the floor near the tray of pressed cakes and accepted the large cup of tea Petra poured and handed him. “Terraxia in particular cannot stomach it,” he said with an edge of humor in his voice. “It’s from she that I keep confusing the name with dead peppers. She calls them death peppers.” He sipped at his cup and Esi was surprised to see tears in his eyes for a moment until he swallowed. “Occasionally a challenge to drink, but I do see why Petra enjoys it.”

Petra settled herself beside Thanos, sitting back with her legs folded in front of her instead of kneeling. “You may recognize it from the capsaicin,” she said to Esi. “My understanding is that it shares chemical structure with the spices your plains tribes use for healing poultices.”

Esi sniffed her cup and nodded. “It does smell like the healer’s tent,” she admitted. “I never learned which spices went in which salves.” Something snapped in the back of her brain and she realized she was chatting with her captor and his mind-washed slave-women over tea like it was normal. Like any of this was completely normal. She shifted uncomfortably and put the cup down in front of her, staring at the bindings on her own wrists to remind her that she was a slave here, not a guest. 

“I see the time for polite conversation has passed,” Thanos observed in a soft voice, sounding almost sad. “Thank you for sharing your tea and sweets,” he said to Petra and Peya. “You may go, if you so wish.” Peya stood quickly and collected the tray with the pressed cakes, turned away and was already at the door when Thanos raised one eyebrow at Petra, who had not moved. “What is it?” he murmured.

“I don’t wish to go,” Petra said softly. She stood and walked to stand closer to him, only  barely taller than him while he was kneeling. “May I share your bed tonight?”

Esi twitched and looked away, her Talhei clamped down in disgust. She followed Peya with her eyes and saw the Krylorian’s eyes darting nervously from her to Petra and back. There was a reason Thanos had released them and Peya was clearly keen to take the opportunity. 

“Not tonight.” Thanos traced her cheek with his fingertip and smiled at her. “Soon. There are things tonight you won’t want to see. Necessary things.” Petra opened her mouth, her expression concerned, but the Titan shook his head and she stopped. “You and your sister may return for tea tomorrow. Esi may be thankful for company then.” Reluctantly, Petra retreated and once she and Peya had vanished from the room, Thanos turned back to regard Esi. “Those necessary things are largely up to you.”

“That’s a steaming cloud of fermented elder farts,” Esi whistled and Thanos threw his head back in a hearty laugh. “Don’t make it sound like I have options in this,” she added in Common and held up her hands, shaking her bound wrists at him. “You’re going to do to me what you want, regardless of what I do or say.”

Thanos slowly stood up, a movement deceptively graceful until he towered over her. Esi felt a warning tingle in her spine and her Talhei bounced nervously as she looked up at him. “True,” he rumbled and Esi heard the danger there. “I can and will do with you as I see fit. But I am also granting you the option to test me. I mean what I say and will abide by what I say to you.” He put his hands on his hips and stared down for a moment before adding, “Do as I say, little pepper, and I will not break my word to you.”

“Suck your mother’s egg sack,” snarled Esi in Kree. 

His hand came down and Esi spiralled across the floor with a half-strangled cry. She curled around herself and clamped her Talhei, trying to keep from flailing into anything that might damage her. “No more of that,” Thanos growled. “Speak civilly to me and I will not hit you again. Do you understand?” While his voice carried threat and power, Esi distantly observed there was no true malice there, only the tried patience of a teacher.

“Your father sires Rajak abominations,” she grunted in Kree as she lifted her head. “You have bastard brothers in eight systems and they’re all uglier than you.”

Thanos reached down, lifted her by the belt of her coveralls and held her at his eye-level before throwing her down hard beside the ring where her rope was tied. She bounced with a cry and curled up tightly again. “Speak civilly,” he growled again, “and I will not hit you. Do you understand?”

“Polar mice live in your face folds,” spat Esi in Common, which earned her another slapped spin across the floor toward the bed. Her exposed skin was starting to burn from the friction of the floor and she was starting to wonder if he had dislocated her hip on that second strike. 

“Do you understand?” Thanos repeated.

Esi pushed herself up on her forearms and bit back a cry. Her hip screamed, definitely a dislocated socket. Panting hard against the pain, she hissed in Centaurian, “Kiss my ass.” It was a phrase that didn’t translate particularly well, even into the other dialects of Centaurian. She had learned it from a Mountain tribe girl in her pavillion years ago.

Thanos let out a low, rolling laugh as he reached down to grasp her by the throat. Esi struggled with a gasp, her hands coming up to claw at his strong fingers as he lifted her again. Panic rocked her and she kicked out with her feet, trying to connect with his ribs or stomach. Her legs weren’t long enough. “Little pepper,” he murmured, “you truly will be fun to break.” He laid his fingers against her stomach, curled the center finger back to his thumb and then flicked her hard right below her ribs. The movement drove the breath from her lungs and left her coughing and helpless in his grasp. “Tell me you understand and I will reset your hip. Bring you something for the pain. Insult me again and I will break your leg and leave you to scream on the floor.” While she stared at him and gasped, Thanos slowly smiled with just the edge of his teeth showing between his lips again. “You see? You do have options.”

“I understand,” Esi finally gasped. 

Thanos nodded. “Good.” He let her down to the floor again, arranged her body carefully as she gasped helplessly at the pain, then reset her hip with a sharp movement of his strong hands. She screamed and the room went black.

 

***

 

A signal on his quarters door awoke Kris and he sighed. He was starting to get used to this constant string of interruptions of his sleep. “Come in,” he called quietly.

The door squeaked a little as it opened and he made a mental note to mention it to the engineering crew in the morning. Risa, the medical officer crept into the room on tiptoe before closing the door after her. “Captain,” she whispered, “I wondered if… if you might want a massage.”

Kris raised his eyebrows. “Seems an odd time to offer, Risa.”

Risa nodded without meeting his eyes. “Except this… this evening was my next scheduled appointment for Esi’s massage and I…” Her voice trailed off in a strangled sound that had Kris out of the bed and reached to hold her against his chest. “They were almost as much for me as they were for her,” Risa admitted, wiping at her face. “I looked forward to them. Not many people ask for massage and I’ve always loved giving them.”

Kris held her and rocked slowly, considering her words. “In that case,” he murmured, “yes. I would love a massage.” Risa smiled at him and pressed her face against his chest.


	5. Chapter 5

The alarm started bleating and Kris sighed, his eyes still closed. He ran his fingers slowly down Risa’s shoulder and whispered, “I have to go. Stay as long as you want.”

“I always do,” she mumbled back and stretched out in his bed, her lips curled in a small smirk. Kris snorted and reached down to tweak her nipple, making her squeak and giggle. “Dammit!”

“You’re a bitch sometimes,” he informed her as he got up and started putting his clothes on. “Why I put up with you, I’ll never know.”

“I’m good with my hands,” Risa grinned back. She had spent the night after their regularly scheduled weekly massage, since those massages did tend to end happily. She shifted to the edge of the bed and wound her arms around his waist. “Kris?”

“Mm?” he mumbled back, half-way into his shirt.

“Do you love me?”

Kris froze, then finished pulling his shirt down over his head so he could look at her. “Why are you asking me this, Risa?”

Without meeting his eyes, the medical tech whispered, “Because of what Esi said when she left. She said you were romanticising your physical relationship, that you didn’t really love her.”

“She said I wasn’t in love with her,” Kris corrected gently and pulled Risa up to her feet. “She was right. I do love her, though. I love her the way I love all my crew. I just don’t try to make babies with all of my crew.”

Risa leaned against his chest with her eyes closed and one hand splayed over his pectoral muscle. “Are you in love with me?” she asked in a small voice. “I think I’m in love with you.”

Kris sighed and rested his chin on top of her head. “I don’t know, Risa,” he whispered back. “All I know for sure right now is that I enjoy your company, both sexually and platonically. I care about you like I care about my crew. Is that love? I don’t even know. Does it go beyond here? I don’t know.” He hugged her tighter when she started to shake. “I just don’t know, okay? I don’t mean to hurt you.”

“I know.” Risa looked up at him and smiled through a slight mist of tears. “I do. I’m not even sure if what I’m feeling is being in love with you or if it’s just the adrenaline and endorphins talking.” When Kris raised an eyebrow, she grinned. “Yes, I’m saying I get a rush when I’m around you. You’re like a drug, Captain.”

“Good to know,” he smiled with a thoughtful nod. “I’ll make sure I’m a controlled substance from now on.”

“Like you haven’t always been,” she chuckled and stood on her toes to kiss him. “If you figure it out, let me know?” 

“I will.” Kris let her sink back into the bed before he turned, located his boots beside the door to his quarters and headed up to the flight deck. It had been eight weeks almost exactly since he had ordered his ship to leave Esi behind. If their time together had been productive, she would be almost ready to give birth. He shook his head at that: Centaurians’ reproductive cycles were so different from Xandarians that it was a wonder they could reproduce at all. Kris sighed and pushed thoughts of Esi away for now. They still hadn’t managed to locate where Terraxia might have taken her, let alone sorted out a plan for rescuing her. 

“Good morning, Captain!” caroled the on-duty pilot, an Aesciti warrior/lancer-class named Lleeyis. Like most of the _ Paiksykine’s _ crew, he was one of the humanoid races of the galaxy. As much as Kris would have been happy to hire more diversely, too much of the ship’s systems were dependant on body-shape. The lancer-class Aescitis were long-limbed and skinny by Xandarian standards, but Lleeyis still managed to fold himself into standard space suits and bunk spaces. “Did you sleep well?”

“I did,” Kris agreed as he leaned on the railing overlooking the flight deck. “Anything interesting happen while I was out?”

“Not from this angle,” Lleeyis said. “You might check with Kylik, though. I heard them clucking about something last night.”

Kris gave the pilot a glare and Lleeyis grinned apologetically. “Don’t let them hear you say that.” He paused in the middle of turning away and looked back. “Have you seen them today?”

“Nu-uh,” Lleeyis shook his head. “Sorry. We’re still on neutrals for now.”

Kris winced. Kylik was a Thil’ar, one of the gender-fluid races akin to the Shi’ar, having the option of presenting in any gender combination according to their daily preferences. “I just hate asking,” he admitted softly, “and assuming is worse.”

“She’s in the aft bay,” Tally reported from her communications station. She leaned back and gave Kris a bright smile. “She’s very much ‘she’ today. I think she’s thinking about incubating again.”

“Losing Esi was hard on her, too,” Lleeyis murmured and Kris nodded. 

“Thanks,” he said. “I’ll check in later. As you were.” His flight deck crew returned to their duties and Kris headed off to locate his Thil’ar petty officer.

 

***

 

“Come here.” Esi stood and paced to the end of her waist-leash, not close enough to be within Thanos’s reach but as far as she was allowed. The Titan sprawled in his bed on his back, an ancient-style manuscript in his hands as he read through the contents. “Will you dance for me?”

“No.” Esi tried not to snarl the negative and kept her usual vicious commentary to herself. 

“Then sing.”

Esi’s jaw tightened and she forced her Talhei still to keep it from rattling angrily. Taking orders was still not her strong suit. “Do you have a request?” She clipped the end of the last word, making the lack of honorific obvious and intentional. She would not call him ‘lord,’ regardless of his treatment of her. 

“ _ Titan’s Dawn _ ,” Thanos murmured without looking up from his manuscript.

It was a familiar song, one Esi had whistled for him before, comfortably within her vocal range and easily adaptable to Centaurian. Esi wet her lips and whistled the first note before beginning to sing. In the weeks since her capture, Thanos had developed a taste for her singing voice, especially when she sang in her birth language. She had translated dozens of songs for him so far in every language from Kree battle hymns to Terran folk songs. She had even mastered a Xandarian epic, a three-hour ode to some besotted Xandarian’s lover. Whenever Thanos asked for it, she made another mental tickmark to take it out of Kris’s hide personally when she got out of here. 

_ Titan’s Dawn _ was a lullabye of the Eternals. It spoke of the importance of resting before work and greeting the morning with a fresh outlook. It sang of rebirth and an end to trials. It gave thanks to the Phoenix for her grace and mercy as well as her fire and strength. And the last verse, which Thanos didn’t allow sung, spoke of the destruction of the Deviants in the Phoenix’s cleansing flames. 

Esi knew it all by rote now. Every verse.

Around the middle of the second verse, Thanos said, “Come here.” Esi blinked and looked down at the belt of rope around her waist. She was at the end of her leash’s range; she couldn’t come closer without its removal. She stopped singing and was opening her mouth to respond when he continued, “I didn’t tell you to stop singing, little pepper. Just come here.”

Her Talhei gave away her distress, bouncing nervously and shaking with a dry rattle. Her skin was so dry now that everything ached and itched all the time now. The constant ache drew her patience thinner than usual. “How the hell am I supposed to do that?” she finally snapped at him. 

Thanos didn’t look up, but she could see the little curl at the edge of his lips. “Do as you’re told, little pepper. The rest of verse two, please.”

Esi continued the song and did her best not to let her anger and irritation show in her tone. She worked her fingertips and nails into the vicious knot at her waist; if she could loosen it, she might be able to slip it down her hips and off. When she was about half-way into the knot, Thanos started to laugh, a low, rumbling sound that finally opened up as he let his head fall back. “What?” she snarled. “What the ever-living fuck is so fucking funny?”

“ _ Fallen to the edge of the final world’s tide _ .” His Centaurian was terrible, but he managed most of the accents in the right places. “Not  _ fallen into the endless abyss of my sister’s anus _ . Though I suppose the effect might be largely the same. I’ve never understood the Centaurian obsession with the anus. Is there something cultural about it?”

“I didn’t…” Esi paused and considered the progression of whistles and hums she had sung, then felt her cheeks flush purple. “I’m sorry. Slip of the tongue.”

“And an entertaining one at that,” Thanos grinned. He turned his head to look at her, letting the manuscript fall to his chest. “If I let you out, will you sit with me?”

Esi let her teeth slide against each other, not quite grating them together but considering. She still hadn’t said anything to Thanos about why her skin was so rough. She wouldn’t give him that power over her if he didn’t already know, but the thought of being out of the leash and being touched… “Yes,” she said softly. The word was bitter on her tongue and Thanos knew it.

The Titan sat up on the edge of the bed, then stood and walked over to where she stood. She had watched him tie and untie these knots a thousand times now and still had no better understanding of how he made them so seamlessly tight and secure, yet still managed to untie them again without having to cut them. When he let go of the rope, it fell at her feet in a coil. “Better?” Thanos asked her quietly. Her skin screamed where the rope had been. Even the pressure of her clothing hurt. Esi nodded without speaking, without meeting his gaze and Thanos put one finger under her chin, drawing her face up. “Don’t lie to me,” he murmured.

“It is better,” she managed. 

Thanos waited. When Esi didn’t elaborate, he prodded her. “But?”

Esi rocked up on her toes, lifted her chin free of his finger and backed up half a step, glaring. “It’s better. Thank you.”

His eyes never left her face. “I would treat you better if you would let me.”

“Like I let you treat me better by not hitting me?” she shot back. When he raised an eyebrow slowly, she wrinkled her nose and shook her Talhei at him with a warning rattle. “That’s not treating me better. That’s basic humane treatment. Not hitting someone. Not tying them up or chaining them to the floor.” Weeks of frustration started to leak out and Esi flared her Talhei sharply. “I am not a housepet, Thanos. I am a fully grown woman of Alpha Centauri, a warrior of the Plains tribe.” She took an angry step towards him and Thanos raised both eyebrows in surprise. “I am worthy of respect!” Esi finally shouted at him. 

And she reached up, grabbed the edge of his stiff collar, jerked him down towards her and kissed him.

Thanos floundered, genuinely surprised and caught off-guard. Esi held tightly to his collar as she kissed him with all the ferocity of her race’s reputation and her Talhei flared up fully. After a few seconds, the Titan reached and touched her face, careful and wary before he started to kiss her back. Esi wound her arms around his neck and clung to him, breathing hard when the kiss broke naturally. “That… was unexpected,” Thanos commented quietly. His eyes watched her face and then he reached up and stroked one thumb slowly over her crest, pressing it back toward her scalp only to have it spring back against his hand when he released her. 

Esi stared at him, still breathing hard. When he stroked her Talhei again, she bit back a soft moan, then shook her head sharply and tried to pull back. “No, let me go.”

“You kissed me,” Thanos replied and Esi blinked at the level of emotion in his tone. He sounded almost hurt, but he did let her go and she fell back, half curling around herself on the floor. “Little pepper,” he whispered but didn’t move toward her, “I don’t understand.”

“I’m worthy of respect,” Esi whispered into her arms. 

Thanos was quiet and she could sense him moving restlessly beside her before one hand dropped to rest on her back. She bit back a whimper, shivering in spite of her own frustration. “You are.” 

Esi lifted her head to look at him. “What?”

He frowned and looked away from her, his hand still resting on her back just below her Talhei. “You are worthy of respect, Esi Okorie.” She continued to stare at him in confusion until he looked back and sighed. “I will arrange for a room for you. I will miss your company, but you are right. You are worthy of respect.” When she didn’t move, he slowly smiled at her, almost a shy expression. “I would rather your company by your choice.”

“I will never choose to be your companion,” she hissed quietly and half-rolled on her side, presenting him with her back again.

Thanos moved away and Esi closed her eyes tightly as she drew herself into a tight ball. She was still breathing hard. She could still feel his mouth on hers, his hands on her skin. Her Talhei continued to throb and twitch, half-raised. Despair pulled at her as she counted the weeks back and realized exactly what was happening.

Estrus.


	6. Chapter 6

“Your pretty pet isn’t looking so pretty these days.” Terraxia tried not to let her delight in the observation show, but from Thanos’s warning glare, she didn’t succeed. She cleared her throat and looked away from him to take a sip of her--extremely weak--pepper tea. It had been her progenitor who had invited her to take tea with him, attended by the oddly synchronous pair of women he was so fond of. Petra’s motivations were clear to Terraxia: the Xandarian was obviously in love with Thanos and adored him, would do anything for his attention. Terraxia knew the feeling intimately. Her half-sister was more of a puzzle. From what Terraxia had witnessed, Peya was both confused and a little afraid of her sister’s attraction to the Titan and yet the Krylorian remained in his service and close to her sister.

Terraxia thought of her own sisters and wondered: if they had lived, would she be so lonely?

“You needn’t gloat,” Thanos growled. “It doesn’t suit you.”

“It suits me very well,” Terraxia replied without looking at him. “I so seldom have reason to gloat around you that you’re just not used to it.”

Thanos made an irritated sound in his throat and reached for another of the small, square sandwiches the sisters had prepared. While he chewed, Petra came forward with the tea carafe and refilled his cup. “Has there been any news?”

“No, my lord.” Terraxia licked her lips in frustration. Leave it to Thanos to undermine her good mood with reminders of failure. “The stones remain but rumors.”

“Tell me the latest rumor.”

“The Tesseract was last seen somewhere on Earth,” Terraxia said. She had told him this rumor at least three times and was getting tired of its repetition. “Probes to learn more have been fruitless largely because none of our spies can pass reliably for human.” Thanos thrummed into his cup, thoughtful. “At last count, we have lost four scout ships and twenty spies in total to the humans, who still do not believe aliens exist. Their willful ignorance knows no bounds, which perhaps would be to our advantage.”

“What of the Collector?”

Terraxia sighed and shook her head. “Tivan has made less headway than we have, my lord. He is still focused on the collecting of his creatures and oddities.” She paused to smirk and Thanos gave her another warning glare. “Perhaps he would be interested in your shabby little pet now that her skin is flaking off. I knew you were hard on your toys, but I wouldn’t have--”

“Enough.” Thanos leaned into the word before standing and stalking across the room to look out a window. “Leave me.” Terraxia remained where she was, watched him carefully and then reached for another sandwich. Peya pulled the plate away with an annoyed snort and Terraxia glared at the Krylorian before slowly smiling to show her teeth. “And stop terrorizing my servants.”

“My lord.” Terraxia stood and bowed slightly toward Thanos, who ignored her. The slight gnawed at her and she gritted her teeth before turning to the door and storming silently away. As she passed Peya, she took a quick swipe at the smaller woman’s legs with her foot, only to growl under her breath when Peya neatly hopped over the trip without batting an eye. Unable to vent her anger any other way, Terraxia settled for slamming the door as she left.

Thanos sighed and leaned against the frame of the window, still staring out into the inky expanse of space beyond. “Why do I always regret my creations?” he mused. “I never regret destruction, but creation…”

“My lord?” Thanos looked down and smiled to see Petra standing at his elbow and looking up at him with his teacup warmed and refilled. “We have not seen Esi in a while. Is she alright?” Peya came to stand beside her sister, expression a mirror of concern.

“I have given her a room of her own,” Thanos told them as he accepted the tea and sipped. “She seemed to suffer where she was and I thought to give her room and privacy.” He rolled the cup with his fingers, studying the swirl of tea leaves and ground pepper in the bottom. “Terraxia is not wrong,” he murmured. “Something troubles her and I cannot fathom what it is.” After a moment, he looked down again. “She needs something, Petra. She won’t let me provide it and it irks me.”

Peya’s lyrical Krylorian drifted from beside the remaining tea set: “That probably only makes her more likely to refuse.” 

Thanos made a face. “Stubborn contrariness does not make sense to me,” he sighed and shook his head. “I find the same applied to Gamora when she was young.”

“It still applies to Gamora,” chuckled Petra. “She just doesn’t do it in front of you anymore.” At Thanos’s surprised expression, she grinned and stood on her toes to reach up to his shoulder and tug him down for a kiss. “You have chosen to surround yourself with women, my lord. Many men have attempted this and gone mad in the process.”

“Some say I’m mad already,” Thanos muttered. “Will you visit her, my dears? Bring her tea and see if she will tell you what it is she needs?”

“She does love the tea,” Peya commented as she came over with the tray of sandwiches and offered them to Thanos, who declined. She took one herself and munched on it as she set the tray down on a table. “I would enjoy taking tea with her. I like her.”

“You like everyone,” Petra snorted at her sister.

“No, I don’t. I don’t like Terraxia.”

“No one likes Terraxia,” Thanos intoned with a sad smile. “I think I made her too much like me.”

“Impossible,” Petra said and kissed his forearm. Thanos just smiled.

 

***

 

There was fire in her blood. It ran under her skin and made her writhe. The movement against the sheets of her bed both fanned the flame and threw her into agony. Esi bit back an anguished cry and tried to keep from rubbing at her itching skin; it was so dry now that it would peel and bleed if she scratched it. 

Her Talhei flared up again. She couldn’t force it to lie flat again. She knew she wouldn’t be able to until after her estrus had passed; the muscles and supports around her crest bone were too swollen. Like her breasts. Like her clitoris. A whine slipped out of her throat and she tried to push away thoughts of what ached. Thinking about how much she missed her vibrator wasn’t going to make her feel any better.

A knock on the door jerked her up and Esi felt a wash of shame following an instinctive rush of hopeful adrenaline that it might be Thanos. “Go away!” she shouted and balled herself back up on the bed. She didn’t want Thanos. She didn’t want anyone. She wanted Kris, but thinking of him only whet her appetite. 

“It’s just Petra,” the Xandarian called softly through the door, “and Peya. We have tea. Would you like to share some with us?”

“Please, leave me alone,” Esi begged, trying to keep the hungry sob out of her voice.

A long pause answered her before she heard Peya’s voice and then Petra translating: “We miss you. We want to share time with you, not just tea.” The sisters paused again, conversing quietly together before Petra sighed and added, “My sister wants you to know that she likes you and wants to teach you Krylorian. She wants to be able to talk for herself.”

Esi took a few long, measured breaths through her nose, considering. When she was younger, applying herself to her studies had sometimes distracted her from the gnawing edge of estrus. Maybe learning a new language would help now. Slowly, she pulled herself off the bed and walked over to the door, pressed her forehead against the cool metal and said, “I’m not good company right now.”

Peya’s answer carried the blunt, sassy edge Esi had noticed when Petra was most frustrated with her sister. Whatever she said when she used that tone, Petra always translated it as politely and carefully as possible, but Esi suspected it bore little resemblance to the original sentiment. “She says--” Petra broke off and sighed, her tone angry and frustrated. They argued a little more in Krylorian before Petra said, “She says, and I quote, ‘You’re better company than Petra.’”

A laugh squeezed out of Esi before she could stop herself and she opened the door a crack to look at them. Petra’s annoyance was plain on her face and Peya looked almost smug. “I’ve always liked learning languages,” she admitted with a smile and found she had to look away from the sisters before her eyes found their breasts and hips alluring even through their clothing. Sexual satisfaction with women didn’t satisfy the reproductive drive, but it did usually abate it some.

Peya made a sound like a worried bird and pushed her way past her sister and into the room. She cupped her hands to Esi’s face and ran her thumbs over her cheeks, whispering in frantic Krylorian. Petra came in and added, “She says your skin looks horrible. It’s not polite, but it’s true. What’s wrong?”

Esi sighed and closed her eyes, torn between the sexual urge to press Peya back against the door and kiss her hungrily, the biological ache for the oils her touch was already pulling back to the surface, and the social need to be polite. “My people need to be touched to keep our skin in good condition,” she said quietly. “Going without means…” she gestured to her face without elaborating. 

Peya said something and tugged Esi’s sleeve up to look at her wrist and forearm. “She says--”

“She’s asking if it’s all over, isn’t she?” Esi interrupted and Petra nodded. “Yes, it’s all over. Every inch of my skin hurts.” Even talking about it was making her breathing ragged. “God, I need a massage.”

Peya snorted once, then turned Esi around and gave her a shove towards the bed. When she tried to protest, Peya delivered an order that brooked no argument and Esi found herself submitting with a softening of her hips and a sway coming into her step. She couldn’t help it: some part of her instincts said she was going to get what she needed and right now, all of her needs were tied up in having someone else’s hands on her skin. In a no-nonsense manner, Peya stripped her shirt off and did the same with her uniform pants, then pushed her at the bed so Esi would lie down. “My sister regularly massages our lord,” Petra said helpfully. “She’s very good at it.”

“You don’t--” Esi broke off when Peya straddled her back and settled there, her hands already working up her back on either side of her Talhei. Esi moaned and went limp under the Krylorian’s firm pressure, just feeling her hands working into her skin and drawing the oils back to where they belonged. Petra hadn’t been exaggerating: Peya was a very good masseur and after only a few minutes, Esi found herself almost weeping into the pillow with relief. When Peya’s hands reached the base of her skull and began to massage her neck and scalp, Esi bit her lip hard on a groan and Peya leaned forward to whisper a query.

“She wants to know if she’s hurting you,” Petra translated. 

Esi shook her head. “No, though it might be better if you were. It feels too good.”

Peya snorted dismissively and worked her fingers over Esi’s scalp, then over her Talhei. 

“God,” Esi moaned in spite of herself. “No, don’t. Not there. It’s… I…” Peya paused and then repeated the motion, stroking her hand from the crest’s base to the upper edge of the fin where the bone tapered off. Esi moaned again, then rolled sharply to knock Peya sideways on the bed. Before she could get a grip on herself, she was kissing the Krylorian hungrily while Peya peeped in surprise and delight. It took her a moment to get herself back under control and she opened her eyes to see Peya’s expression, mingled excitement and amusement. “Sorry,” Esi panted. “I can’t really help it right now.”

Peya reached up and stroked her cheek, then pulled her back down for another kiss before whispering in stilted Common, “It okay. I like it.”

Petra spat something in Krylorian and Peya twitched sharply. Esi blinked, feeling dizzy and confused so she just put her face down against Peya’s neck, breathing in the other woman’s scent and trying to hold her hunger in check. She could hear the sisters arguing, could almost feel the angry vibrations happening in Peya’s body. When Peya stroked her hand down Esi’s side, she moaned again and pressed her face more tightly into Peya’s neck. The argument ended abruptly when Peya snarled something, a shockingly harsh sound to a usually flowing and lyrical language, and Petra stormed out of the room. “What happened?” she whispered, her lips brushing Peya’s neck and drawing a shiver from the Krylorian.

“She mad,” Peya answered and her hands stroked down to Esi’s hips, holding her. “I not doing what she say.” She turned her head to kiss Esi’s cheek and smiled when Esi turned to meet her eyes. “She going for the lord.”

Esi closed her eyes and let out a soft whimper. “I don’t want him here.” Peya shook her head and turned Esi’s face so she could kiss her again. The sensation swamped Esi’s senses and she clung to Peya, kissing her while her Talhei bounced and flared, stretching to its full height and the muscles swelling to keep it there. 

“Safe,” Peya whispered against her lips. “I safe.” Esi looked at her, worried and Peya smiled. “You safe. With me.” She pulled Esi close and kissed her again.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for explicit girl-on-girl. This chapter can be skipped without missing much in the way of plot.

“Touch me,” Esi begged in a small voice. “Please.”

Peya smiled and kissed her again, then shifted her hips and Esi understood her request. She sat up and pulled Peya into her lap, wrapped her arms around the Krylorian and clung to her. Peya ran one hand over Esi’s Talhei again, pressing it back with just enough tension to make her shiver and worked her other hand along Esi’s face, jaw, neck, shoulder. She kissed her again and again, leaving Esi breathless. Peya paused to rest her face on Esi’s shoulder, snuggled close and just being near her while Esi hugged her tightly. 

“Everything needs?” Peya whispered and traced the back of her finger down Esi’s chest, following the slight curve of her breast before it vanished into her pouch. At Esi’s dizzy nod, Peya smiled and ran her fingertips along the pouch’s edge. “How far?” She hooked one fingertip around the edge and gently pulled, indicating the subject of her question. 

“It stretches,” Esi panted and moaned when Peya’s hand slipped down into her pouch to cup one breast, thumb tracing the nipple. “It’s been too long,” she groaned softly and Peya laughed, kissing her exposed throat. 

“Soft,” Peya observed as she ran her fingertips along the inside of Esi’s pouch, searching for the other breast. When she found it with her fingers, she pulled the pouch back slightly and dipped her face down against Esi’s skin, her tongue tracing a slow circle around her nipple. Esi chewed her lip, letting her hands run up into Peya’s hair and holding her there. When Peya’s hands ran down over Esi’s skin to her hips, Esi gasped and arched her back, almost vibrating with need. She whistled shrilly and Peya giggled, testing the edge of her teeth on Esi’s skin. “What need?” she whispered.

“Everything.”

“Greedy.”

Esi laughed and it felt good to laugh. With the weight of Peya’s body against hers and the Krylorian’s hands tracing figures on her aching skin, she had a glimmer of freedom, of home and safety. Peya kissed her way down Esi’s belly and pulled her thin shorts to the side, kissed her labia and smiled when Esi moaned, lifting her hips eagerly. With deft kisses and lips, Peya worked her way closer until Esi wrapped her legs around Peya’s shoulders, clicking an almost constant stream of desperate, begging words. Peya paused to breathe lightly on the Centaurian’s damp skin and grinned when Esi’s legs tightened with a groan. Carefully, Peya slipped the tip of one finger into Esi’s aching vagina and closed her lips on the hard bud just above it.

Talhei flaring wildly, Esi bent her back with a cry. She was so close, so very close to orgasm but knew she wasn’t going to truly get there from Peya’s attentions alone. When the Krylorian sped up the firm strokes of her fingertip and flicked Esi’s clit with her tongue, Esi reached and stroked the base of her Talhei firmly, gasping. “Yes,” she rasped desperately and heard Peya moan softly against her pussy. A few more strong strokes of her crest and Esi bucked against Peya’s mouth and whistled her climax right through the top of her range. 

As they collapsed together, Esi rolled to her side and Peya wriggled her way up to lie beside her. They were both breathing hard and Peya’s skin had flushed almost crimson. As she caught her breath, Esi reached and stroked her face. “Thank you,” she whispered and Peya grinned. “What can I do for you?” Peya shook her head and kissed Esi’s wrist. “You need, too,” prodded Esi and tried to bite back a pleased smirk at the flushed, embarrassed look on Peya’s face. “I can do the same for you,” she whispered. “If you want.”

Peya’s eyes darted across her face and Esi smiled, watching her pulse speeding up in her throat again. “Yes,” she whispered. “I want.” 

Esi reached to gently push her onto her back, slipped over to her and kissed her mouth in long, slow movements of her lips. Peya let out a moan of her own as she curled her arms around Esi and lifted her hips to press closer. Esi rocked her own hips forward, pressing her pelvic bone against Peya and watching the Krylorian’s eyes roll back slightly. “I’m glad you want,” she whispered and kissed her way down Peya’s neck. “I like being with you. I like touching you, having you touch me.” When Peya drew her hands over Esi’s shoulders, Esi grinned and kissed lower on her chest. “Your hands feel good on my skin.” Peya ran one hand up and along Esi’s crest and she moaned, pausing in her downward movement to just pant. “And I really like that.”

“This?” Peya murmured and stroked her again, her fingers finding the swollen, aching muscles of her Talhei. “I can… more?” Peya made a frustrated noise in her throat and Esi looked up to smile at her. 

“Yes, you can do that more.” She shifted to slip her hand between Peya’s thighs and watched while the Krylorian’s head dropped back with a happy moan. “That feels to me like this feels to you,” Esi whispered as she slowly rubbed her thumb over Peya’s clit. “I’d like it very much if you kept doing that.”

Peya’s fingers tightened slightly and Esi bit back a groan as she started to stroke the length of her crest firmly. “Like this?” Peya panted softly and Esi nodded, just enough to encourage her. 

With Peya stroking her Talhei, Esi struggle to refocus on what she had promised to do. She continued to rub her thumb over Peya’s clit, then kissed down her belly and flicked the tip of her tongue against Peya’s labia. The Krylorian moaned and her movements sped up, rubbing Esi’s Talhei in time with the lapping of her tongue. When Peya finally started to take wild, ragged, deep breaths and buck her hips up, Esi slide a second finger into her pussy and watched in quiet satisfaction as Peya half-screamed and spasmed around her fingers. Esi was easing her fingers free when Peya made a few more jerky strokes of her Talhei and Esi had to bite back another cry of her own. The Krylorian didn’t stop and Esi buried her face in her lover’s stomach, cresting hard and clinging to her. “Good god,” she mumbled. “Surprise orgasm. I didn’t think I had another one in me yet.”

Peya giggled and hugged her legs around Esi, pulling on her arms until Esi was lying stretched out against her, still between her legs and with one of Peya’s feet running slowly up and down the back of her thigh. “Thank you,” she whispered and kissed Esi. “You better?” She reached and traced her fingertips across Esi’s forehead, down her cheeks, along the slope of her neck. “No flake.”

Esi smiled. “Yes,” she murmured back. “This helps with the skin conditioning, too.”

“Good.” Peya dropped her head back and let out a long, happy sigh. “I stay. Like you.”

Esi chuckled. “I like you, too,” she whispered as she settled her head on Peya’s shoulder and relaxed into her arms. 

 

***

 

A knock on the door shook them both awake. Esi lifted her head slowly from Peya’s chest and listened, her Talhei flaring warily. “Who is it?”

“It is I.”

“Thanos,” breathed Peya and her voice was terrified. 

Esi looked at her in surprise and stroked her face. “He hasn’t hurt you, has he?”

Peya shook her head without meeting her eyes. “No reason,” she whispered, then glanced at Esi and looked down at their entwined bodies. “Reason.”

Esi’s Talhei popped up and rattled sharply. “What I do with my body is my business,” she growled and kissed Peya hard. Peya’s hands came up against her sides and back as she kissed back, then they parted and watched each other. “I won’t let him hurt you,” Esi promised.

“I same,” Peya whispered back and released her to stand up.

Esi slipped to her feet and straightened her shorts, regarded the purplish post-orgasm flush of her skin and the swollen curve of her breasts over the edge of her pouch. It was a nice view, one she didn’t want to share with Thanos. She reached for a wrap shirt and tied it on before opening the door a crack. “What do you want?”

Thanos stared at her. Before she could resist him, he pushed open the door and looked at her bed where Peya curled herself up in a ball nervously. When he looked back down at her, Esi was surprised to see his nostrils flaring and his eyes getting wider. “What have you done?” he breathed before rushing her, catching her face in his hands and kissing her fiercely. 

Peya rolled to the other side of the bed to put it between herself and the Titan while Esi struggled, trying to find purchase on his massive fingers. She tried to jerk her head away, but paused at the soft sounds she could hear. Was Thanos making those tiny, desperate, hungry sounds? He stumbled and dropped to his knees, pulling her against him and never letting her mouth go. Esi put one hand on his face, intending to push him away but he moaned and leaned against her touch, finally releasing her to stare into her face. “I need you,” he groaned and his voice was helpless, shockingly raw. “Esi. Little pepper, what are you?” His nostrils flared again and he groaned, pressing his face into her skin. “I need you,” he repeated breathlessly.

“No!” Esi shoved against him as hard as she could, struggled and thrashed until his hands opened and she threw herself away from him. “Get out!” she half-screamed, pointing at the door. “Get away from me!”

Thanos shook his head like a man dazed and blinked at her. “I… don’t know… What did I do?” He looked down at his hands in confusion, then stretched his arms a little farther out as he examined down his front. Esi watched in astonishment as the Mad Titan’s face flushed at the sight of his own erection pressed into the fabric of his suit. His gaze flashed to her face again, eyes begging for an explanation, and then he was gone with the door booming closed after him.


	8. Chapter 8

“GET OUT.”

Terraxia looked up in shock from the station where she had been following up a few research leads before taking the  _ Obliterator _ out into space again. Thanos slammed the door open and roared again, “GET OUT NOW.” She watched as he stormed across the room toward the corridor which led to his rooms. Through the common research library was the fastest route from his quarters to where any resident guests, favored servants or other non-detainees stayed on the asteroid station. Clearly, Thanos wanted a quick exit, even if it was not exactly a subtle one. When Terraxia stayed where she was, Thanos turned to stare at her, his eyes wide. “Your smell is vile. Leave immediately before I erase my mistake.”

Silence hovered between them and Terraxia tried to decide if she should give in to her initial reaction or obey. “You don’t have the Time stone yet,” she finally snarled at him. “You can attempt to erase my existence, but you’ll only leave eraser crumbs.”

In three short steps, Thanos crossed the room and lifted her from her seat by her throat. Terraxia choked and kicked, then focused on looking him in the face. If he was to kill her, she would make him watch her die. His eyes were wide, pupils dilated in a strange way she couldn’t quite place. His nostrils flared again and the expression that crossed his face was not revulsion but desire. “Leave,” he hissed.

“Kiss me first,” she whispered back. She let her eyes roll back when his hand closed tighter on her throat, cutting off what little air she had left. 

Ground came up under her feet and Thanos jerked her close, kissed her with a furious passion she had never experienced from him before. He had made her to love him and she had entertained him for a while, but even at the height of his attentions he had never kissed her like this. Terraxia bit back a moan as she kissed him, reached to embrace him, begging him to love her for even a little while. When he lifted her this time, it was with his hands under her thighs and he carried her with him, her legs wrapping eagerly around his waist. 

It wasn’t until he had her in his quarters, her clothes stripped and his erection bared, that Terraxia realized what she had seen in his eyes earlier. She smelled it on him now. This was the hunger of the Deviants. She had experienced it herself before, but had always assumed it to be a fault in her creation rather than a reflection of her progenitor. The dominating sexual drive had been triggered by one of the slave races she had found which went into a seasonal heat rather than being fertile year-round. Their females in heat smelled irresistible, the men driven to wild acts of desperation in their attempts to get to those females. Some of their males went into a seasonal heat similar to the females and some of their females responded as the men did, but the end result was the same: the species copulated furiously during specific seasons and most of their children were born in the next.

Thanos’s hand pressed against the back of her neck, forcing her face down toward the blankets and Terraxia lifted her hips, ready in spite of all the thoughts rushing through her head. She would die for him to want her like this, but this was not about her. This was about someone in heat, a state she herself had never experienced. When he pushed himself roughly into her, she moaned and leaned back, begging him for more, trying to push all her doubts and thoughts away.

“My pepper,” Thanos groaned and rocked her sharply against the bed. He planted his hands on her hips and rocked her again and again until she was dizzy with his hunger. Terraxia tried to focus on the feeling, on the pleasure of his body against hers. But his voice wouldn’t go away. “Esi…” He shuddered and groaned again, emptied himself deep into her and then slumped against her back, breathing hard. 

“Your pet is in heat,” Terraxia hissed softly, unable to keep the hurt from her tone.

Immediately, the stiffness of his cock returned, rebounding rapidly at the thought of the Centaurian. He growled and started to move again, mindless and demanding. “What does it matter,” he groaned in her ear as she softened for him again, unable to resist him. “It’s you I’m fucking. What care have you for the cause?” 

Terraxia bit back her own moan, struggling to form words. “Because I love you,” she managed and Thanos growled, his hand fisting in her hair and jerking her head back. “Because I want you to love me, not just fuck me.”

“Take what you can get,” he snarled and forced her head back down against the sheets.

 

***

 

In the darkness of his quarters, long after the evening shift change and lit only by the glow of his digital communications array, Kris stared at his screen, tapping a credit chip against his lower lip thoughtfully. His screen showed the contact links for a dozen mercenaries, men and women and nonbinaries who would take his money and fight to get him what he wanted. Esi. Safe and back on the  _ Paiksykine _ . He had realized by now that if he waited for the right time to come, he would never see her again. It was time to be proactive.

Risa ran her hands slowly over his bare shoulders as she came to lean against his back. “You realized she’s in heat again, didn’t you?” she whispered softly and Kris nodded. The med tech kissed his cheek gently and wound her arms around his neck. “We’ll find her, Kris. I know we will.”

“Not on our own we won’t,” he murmured and leaned to kiss her forearm absently. “What have you heard about the Ravager clans?”

“Depends on which one,” Risa said. She pulled over one of the chairs and sat next to him, studying the screen. “Stakar Ogord’s clan is always solid. Udonta’s disgraced, last time I heard. I don’t know the details, but I’ve never heard anything really negative about him as long as the money’s good. Aleta’s good. I haven’t heard of the others.”

Kris paused to study her and smiled. She was dressed only in one of his exercise shirts and her own panties, a look he had become fairly accustomed to in the months since Esi’s surrender. It suited the pretty medical tech, emphasized her long legs and the shirt ended just above the flare of her hips, drawing the eye. He wondered briefly if he could talk her into wearing it around the ship, then dismissed the thought sheepishly. “Who do you think is most likely to help us?”

“Assault the Mad Titan and recover one of his prisoners? I don’t think any of them are that suicidal.” Risa smiled at the look on his face. “I would contact Stakar. If he won’t do it himself, he may have some ideas on who will.” She reached and stroked her fingers down his cheek. “We all miss her, Kris. We all want her home.”

Kris nodded slowly and turned his face to kiss her wrist. “Enough to forego income for a while? Putting a price on her rescue isn’t going to be cheap.”

“I’ve got some money saved,” Risa said immediately. “I know Lleeyis and Tally will pitch in. Kylik doesn’t have much--they’ve been saving for a brood leave--but if you ask, they’ll contribute for Esi. Gorjin will help. You’ll probably lose a lot of the other crew, though. They love her, but they won’t want to throw money away.”

Kris smiled and kissed her, his hand stroking down the line of her jaw. “Thank you, Risa. For everything.”

“She’s crew,” Risa said and shrugged. “She’s family.”

“And that’s why I love this crew,” Kris murmured and Risa grinned.

 

***

 

“Massively stacked odds. Small chance of success. Reward’s not worth half the funeral costs.” Martinex leaned on the back of Stakar’s command chair. “Have I missed anything?”

“She’s a looker,” Stakar offered, poking the image of Esi Okorie that was attached to the bounty request. She was indeed a handsome-looking woman, her lines more refined than the typical member of her species seen out in space.

“She’s a Centaurian,” Martinex murmured quietly. “Like Yondu.” Stakar nodded slowly and neither looked at each other. Yondu’s betrayal of their code was still too raw, even years later. “Did you call Krugarr?”

“No.”

“Aleta?”

“She won’t touch it.”

Martinex snorted. “Typical. Mainframe?”

“Up to his digits in work right now. No time.”

Staring at the image for a long moment in silence, the crystalline Ravager gripped the back of his captain’s chair and stretched, letting his head hang down between his arms. “Yondu would do it.”

“I know.”

“You should at least--”

“I know.”

“If you don’t, I will.”

Stakar glared over his shoulder at his first mate, who had returned to lean on the back of the chair, arms crossed across the back and his chin resting on his forearms. “Like hell you will.”

“He adopted a Centaurian stray years ago. You remember Kraglin? He’s married to her now. They’ve got kids, plural. There’s no way they’ll pass this up.” Martinex grinned a little. “Even if Yondu wants to, I don’t think that girl will let him.”

“Send him an anon, then,” Stakar sighed in irritation. “I don’t want him smelling us on this. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.” 

“Martinex.” The Ravager first mate paused to look back at his captain, translucent eyebrows raised. Without looking at him, Stakar ran a finger over the accept button without pressing it. “Send the anon and tell him there’s competition.” 

Martinex grinned. “Yes, sir.”

 

***

 

A tentative tap echoed in the silent chamber and both Esi and Peya stared at the door as if it would spring open on its own. In the wake of Thanos’s exit, they had dressed and sat together on the bed, fingers entwined and both too nervous to try to talk about what had happened. The tap repeated and Peya closed her eyes with a short nod. “Petra,” she whispered.

“You’re sure?” Esi whispered back and the Krylorian nodded. Together, they crept to the door and opened it. 

Petra glared back in at them. She conspicuously sniffed the air and made a face. “You stink like sex.”

“That’s what happens when you have sex,” Esi shot back. “I’m sorry we didn’t have the facilities for a full bath and manicure. We’re sort of on a tight budget around here.” Behind her, Peya snorted. “What do you want, Petra?”

“I wanted to collect my sister,” Petra said. “I assume you’re done with her? Your skin looks better.”

Peya hissed out a long series of rapid-fire words in Krylorian which made her sister’s already pale skin pale even further. Esi glanced over her shoulder in surprise, then had to choke back her laughter when Peya began a graphic and vocal pantomime of their liaison, complete with breast groping and exaggerated, ecstatic moaning. Petra recoiled and Peya snorted again before saying carefully, “I happy. Esi need. I need. Staying.”

Petra was quiet for a moment, then nodded. Her face was stony, but there was hurt and loss in her eyes as she whispered, “You’ll do what you want. Our lord did request us for tea and a massage later this evening, but I’m sure you know the way.” Her eyes flicked to Esi and she barely wrinkled her nose. “I don’t know what he wants with you or when. I expect he’ll find you when he’s ready.”

“He’ll always know where to find subservience,” Esi replied evenly. “When he wants a fight, he’ll be back.”

They stared at each other for a moment and then Petra was gone. Esi turned back at the tiny sound Peya made and gathered the Krylorian into her arms as she started to cry. 


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> May I present: PORN WITHOUT PLOT. Part One.

There was fire in her veins again. Esi woke up out of a sound sleep, almost sobbing with need. Peya rolled after her and drew her close, hushing her gently and kissing her. The satisfaction was lasting less and less with every hour she went without the whiff of testosterone in her nose and the feel of a cock in her pussy. Peya cradled her head, stroking her crest. “I’m sorry,” Esi gasped. “It’s not enough. Baby, it’s not enough.”

“Okay,” whispered Peya and she kissed Esi gently. “I know.” They clung to each other for a moment before the Krylorian murmured softly, “The lord?”

Esi moaned. “No,” she whispered back and rolled to press her face against Peya’s stomach. “I don’t want him here.” She was lying and they both knew it. He was exactly what she craved. 

Peya reached and ran her hand over Esi’s belly, then between her legs. “Sure? He help. You need.” 

“I don’t need him,” Esi snarled and fell back again with a whimper when Peya stroked her clit with a fingertip. “I don’t want him. Help me. I need you.”

“I help,” Peya whispered and kissed her again.

 

***

 

Thanos paced the length of his room. Terraxia watched him from the bed, still breathing hard and dizzy from her last orgasm. He was hard again. She couldn’t satisfy this. She could never satisfy him, not when he had the smell of a female in heat in his nose. Terraxia put her head down in the blankets and let out a long, shaky sigh. He growled low in his throat and she looked up again just in time to see his eyes on her. He had already taken two steps toward her when she managed to gasp, “No, my lord. Please.” Thanos stopped and slowly raised his eyebrows.

“No?” he asked her, his tone surprised. 

“I need time,” she whispered and ducked her head, feeling a wash of cold shame running down her back. 

Silence sank over them like a suffocating blanket, then Thanos threw his head back and laughed. “For all your mewling, when there is still more to take, you surrender. Where is your Titan blood now?” He reached and flipped her over so she would look at him, leaning over her and his eyes searching her face with hunger. “Shall I make it worthwhile? Shall I give you your time?”

Terraxia stared at him in confusion. “My lord?”

He kissed her chest, between her breasts, a line down her belly and she broke off a moan. His hands ran over her sides, her thighs and still he kissed lower. She arched her back with a gasp when he spread her thighs and pressed his face to her sex, flicked his tongue against her. “What do you say now?” he breathed against her skin.

“Yes,” Terraxia answered immediately and lifted her hips. “Yes, my lord. Please.”

Thanos chuckled and lapped at her again. “I thought so.”

 

***

 

Esi hugged her arms around Peya’s thighs, burying her face between them and moaning softly as Peya stroked her crest. Peya leaned down from her position straddling Esi’s face and kissed her forehead, just in front of the base of her Talhei. “ _ Shbebe _ ,” she whispered and Esi moaned again. The only word Peya had taught her in Krylorian so far and they used it as a pet name almost immediately. It meant “my love.” 

Awash in sensation and still driven for more, Esi felt her mind still turning in spite of her lust. Was this love? Did she love the woman she was making love to? She wasn’t sure her concept of love matched the Krylorian translation. Or the Xandarian. Or any other translation. She ran her hands over Peya’s hips and up her sides, feeling the Krylorian shift and respond. Was this just her estrus hormones driving her to comfort when comfort was offered? She tipped her head to press her chin against Peya’s wetness and heard her moan. 

Peya whispered something in Krylorian, her hips moving and her hand stroking Esi’s crest harder. The words were strange, but the sentiment carried… urging, begging, coaxing words aimed to pull Esi out of her mind’s control, to invest her again in the rising ecstasy. She gasped and heard Peya giggle softly. It built like a fireball behind her eyes and when she cried out in release, Peya pulled back to kiss her mouth. 

“ _ Shbebe _ ,” she whispered and Esi sighed. “Sleep. Please?”

“I keep dreaming,” Esi whispered back, hearing the whine in her own voice and hating it. She wrapped herself around the Krylorian and kissed her, buried her face in her shoulder. “I keep dreaming about sex. I hate this. I hate this so much, Peya. I can’t make it stop.”

“I know.” Peya held her tightly and kissed her temple. “Safe. With me.”

 

***

 

Terraxia arched her back on another scream and Thanos growled his release against her chest, clutching her body to him as he drove twice more into her, finishing and lingering. He rocked back to sit up, leaned his back against the wall again as Terraxia tipped herself forward to lean on him. She had long since lost count of her climaxes, of his, of the positions they had used, of the toys and techniques. She was exhausted and just wanted to put her head on his chest and sleep. She just wanted his arms around her and to go to sleep.

His cock twitched.

He was already swelling with need again.

She whimpered softly and pushed her face against his neck. “Please, my lord,” she whispered. “I can’t. Not again. Not yet.” Thanos’s breathing went very still and slow as he listened to her. “You know I wouldn’t deny you anything, my lord Thanos. I would die for you. Just… please. Not yet.”

She could hear his heartbeat through his chest, still rapid from exertion, arousal. His skin was damp with sex and sweat. “Terraxia,” he breathed against her cheek and she tried not to sob at the affection in his voice. “My sweet. Rest. I’m sorry I’ve been so demanding today.” He kissed her skin, paused with a low sound in his throat and then kissed her again. She could taste his hunger on his lips and tongue, but he kept it short before releasing her and swinging her down into the blankets of the bed. She looked up at him and watched his fond smile as he stroked her hair back from her face and settled a blanket over her. 

She watched him turn away, pull on a robe rather than bothering with a suit, stride out of the room while humming to himself. Humming  _ Titan’s Dawn _ .

 

***

 

Esi was finally asleep. Peya cradled the Centaurian’s head against her chest, humming softly and rocking her. She had heard of these kinds of intense estrus periods, but mostly in less civilized races, the tribals living on the outskirts of the galaxy. Esi whimpered in her sleep and her Talhei twitched against Peya’s shoulder, still swollen. They had been fighting through her needs for hours and Peya wanted nothing more than to sleep, but if Esi was comfortable where she was, she wasn’t about to move her.

The door slammed open and Thanos strutted into the room. Wearing nothing but a robe barely tied at the waist, it was clear he had come directly from his own chambers with only one thing on his mind.

Peya stood up as Esi made a distressed sound and struggled for consciousness. Rage blinded her and Peya started to scream, “How fucking dare you! Do you have any idea how long I’ve been trying to get her to sleep? Do you? Do you know what this is doing to her? There’s only so much I can do for her and she doesn’t want you.”

Thanos blinked, almost stunned to stillness by the tirade. “How would you know what she wants, lily blossom?”

“She told me herself.” 

Esi sat up on the bed and Peya felt a sinking in her chest at the slow, predatory smile curling Thanos’s lips. “Ask her again.”

When she looked over her shoulder, Peya saw the brilliant expanse of Esi’s Talhei, stretched tall and wide, impossible to mistake for anything but a sexual display. Her eyes were wide and the reddish-brown irises all but lost to her dilated pupils. “ _ Shebebe, _ ” Peya whispered and Esi’s eyes tore from Thanos to look at her. “Stay. Safe. With me.” Esi looked over her, gaze traveling from her face to take in her naked body and then back up. Then slid sideways toward the Titan again and Thanos began to laugh.

“This is what she was built for,” he said in a low, growling voice and held out his arms. “Don’t deny it, pepper. Come to me.”

In a blur, Esi collided with his chest, drove him straight to the ground and kissed him with ferocity he had not expected. He groaned and reached to hold her, only to find that she had writhed down his body and was burrowing under his robe, hands seeking skin. When she spread her legs and started to rock hard against his erection, Thanos made a choked sound and snarled, “Wait.” She didn’t stop, moving with blind determination and he reached quickly down, grasped her by the shoulders, pulled her away. If Peya hadn’t known better, she would have said he was afraid. He held Esi firmly, stared into her face and watched as she writhed and moaned and struggled to get to him. 

Thanos turned sharply and yelled, “Guards. Take her to my study.” Several Kree cautiously came forward, exchanging nervous glances. When they took Esi by the arms, she cried out and writhed again, almost pulling them from their feet as the distance between herself and Thanos increased. “Soon, pepper,” he told her. His confidence was coming back quickly and he straightened up. “I have a few things to attend to and I will be with you shortly.” He looked at the Kree and smirked. “Use the bonds.”

“No!” cried Peya and she rushed forward, only to be shoved back roughly by Thanos.

“Go to your sister, lily blossom,” he growled at her. “Unless you wish to spread your legs for me, too, you’re of no use to me.” He turned away and vanished down the corridor leaving Peya to sob into her hands.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part two of porn without plot! Enjoy

Consciousness came slowly. It came with an ache she was familiar with but would never be used to. It came with the feeling of cold steel under her cheek, her chest pressed to the decking. The ache of her breasts behind her pouch, not sure if she wanted that cold against them to ease the ache or if it would only make it worse. Esi whimpered in spite of herself and shifted her hips, pressed them down to the steel, seeking something to soothe the hunger.

When Esi pushed herself up onto hands and knees, she realized she was bound once again. At wrist and ankle, a manacle encircled her and was lashed to a length of rope. A short length. Each rope had a different attachment point. While she could pull herself to her knees, she couldn’t stand and even kneeling, her limbs were spread wider than her shoulders, keeping her unsteady and unbalanced. She dropped back down to the floor with a little sob. 

“My little pepper.” Thanos’s voice was a rumbling purr and Esi lifted her head long enough to locate him in the room. He sat at a desk, a robe wrapped around him and belted at the waist. She frowned. Something had changed… she remembered the robe being open. He smiled at her when her crest started to rise. “You’ve kept me waiting.”

“Fuck you,” she hissed and he chuckled. He stood up from the desk and walked over to where she was bound to the floor, then crouched. The movement left his lower half mostly uncovered and Esi couldn’t keep her eyes from being drawn to him: he was hard and huge. She opened her mouth, tried to find words, tried to find the fierceness she was so proud of, but all that came out was a faint, husky whisper: “Fuck me.”

Thanos grinned and reached down to stroke his hand over her bared ass. She pushed up against his hand with an instinctive whine. “In good time,” he purred softly. His hand left her skin.

SMACK.

Esi cried out when his hand connected with the softness of her ass, rocked her forward. Thanos stopped, letting his hand rest against her skin and slowly rubbed a circle there. 

SMACK

She yelped again and it trailed into a soft moan as he stroked the sting out of the strike. “Fuck me,” she whispered, angry that those were the words she kept finding. “Don’t fuck around, Thanos. If you’re going to do this, fuck me.”

SMACK

Esi gasped on her words, pressed her cheek to the floor. Thanos’s hand covered her skin, curved to the contour of her ass. “My little pepper,” he murmured softly as he let one thumb stroke over her hip. Esi bit back a soft moan at the movement, reminder of just how big his hands were. “I will in due time. But first, you need to earn it.” 

SMACK

“You need to want it.” Thanos paused and let his fingers trail down the curve of her ass, down the back of her thighs. “And I need to believe it.”

“I hate you,” she hissed and moaned when Thanos traced one finger over her swollen labia. 

SMACK

“There’s no need for that.” He stroked her ass again, then trailed his fingers up between her thighs. “Hate is counterproductive, especially now. I know what you want, just as you do.” Esi whimpered and arched her back, presenting herself for his touch. She could hear the smile in his voice. “I don’t ask that you love me,” he purred. “Only that you want me.”

SMACK

Esi moaned in her throat and rocked back toward him, letting Thanos catch her stinging bottom in his hand. “Let me loose and I’ll show you what I want,” she growled softly and swung her hips in a slow arc, rubbing against his fingers. One broad fingertip pushed slightly between her folds and she whimpered. He slipped deeper than she had expected and she could feel her own juices starting to drip down her leg. “Please,” she panted. 

“So wet,” Thanos murmured and Esi turned to look over her shoulder at him. A smile curled his lips and his finger slid a little deeper. “Tell me what you want, pepper.”

“More,” she begged softly and felt her crest stretch and shake, sore with excitement. 

SMACK

Esi yelped, surprised by the strike. It came horizontally, from his left hand without the right leaving her wetness. She rocked with it, panting hard and leaning back when his fingertip withdrew slightly. “Tell me,” Thanos growled.

SMACK

“More!” Esi cried breathlessly. Instead, his finger withdrew entirely and she half-sobbed. “No, please. Don’t stop.”

SMACK

SMACK

SMACK

In quick succession, his broad palm rocked her forward and left her skin stinging, aching. He rubbed slow circles across her ass, then did it again.

SMACK

SMACK

SMACK

“Tell me what you want,” he intoned.

“You,” Esi breathed.

“Louder.”

“You!” she yelped and Thanos chuckled.

“So specific. I know you can say this in five languages. I want to hear it in all of them.”

SMACK

Esi moaned and let her forehead rest on the floor for a moment. “I want you to fuck me,” she panted. 

SMACK

“I need your cock,” she whistled.

SMACK

“My body is yours.” The Krylorian was bitter in her throat. She hadn’t learned any words for reproductive sex, only the sensual touching she had shared with Peya.

SMACK

“Make my children glorious.” The Kree always were a little melodramatic. “Fill my darkness with your might and leave me consumed in your fire.”

Thanos chuckled. “One more.”

SMACK

“Fuck me,” she breathed in Titan.

He gave her no warning but the touch of his hands on her hips, the heat of his body behind her before he drove himself deep into her. Esi screamed and dropped her chest to the floor, her hips high and begging for him. Her whole world stretched to take him in and she screamed again when he pulled back to drive forward again. Thanos groaned and his fingers tightened on her hips, drawing her close. “That,” he ground out, “is the hottest thing I’ve touched, pepper.” When she whimpered eagerly, he leaned close to her back and breathed against the fan of her Talhei, “Is there more for me?”

“Yes,” she panted. “Yes, please.”

“If I let you out, will you show me?”

“Yes.”

Without pulling away from her, Thanos freed her wrists from their shackles. He rocked her forward again with a hungry sound in his throat before leaning back to free her ankles, too. “Show me,” he groaned. 

Esi drove herself back onto his cock for a moment with a pleased moan, then pulled away to turn around. Facing him, she saw in the Mad Titan’s face what she felt within: this wouldn’t be over until she had a belly of his baby. Instinct screamed for satisfaction while the rest of her mind pulled away from the idea. Then, she was rushing forward, cradling his face in her hands as she kissed him. He knelt there, his hands on her hips and his mouth hungry on hers until she pushed him backwards. 

Thanos dropped like an obedient dog. Esi felt a smug smile on her lips as she straddled him, pushed away the robe that still clung to his shoulders and ran her hands over his massive chest. She drew her nails down his skin and he groaned, arched his back, closed his eyes.

Esi rocked up, back, impaled herself on his erection with a strangled moan. From this angle, she found that she had more room, more control of the angle and she rolled her hips slowly forward. Beneath her, Thanos tried to catch his breath but only managed to pant, his fingers tighter on her hips. “Fuck me,” she growled at him and kissed him again. 

His body rocked like a wave and she rode him, her hips rolling with the movement and her pussy clenching eagerly on him. “Pepper,” he moaned. 

With an almost hysterical bubble of laughter in her chest, Esi hissed in his ear, “What do you want?”

“You,” he groaned, his head back against the floor and his hips still pushing up under her. 

“So specific.”

Thanos opened his eyes to glare at her and Esi laughed. The glare softened as he studied her face, her flared Talhei, the way she rutted against him. “I want you to come for me,” he said softly and Esi blinked. He reached and stroked one hand over her chest, thumb brushing the rise of her breast under the pouch. “I want you to ride me until you’re satisfied. I want to watch you come, Esi. As many times as it takes.”

She stopped moving then and they stared at each other, gauging the words, the implications, the hunger still hanging between them. “Touch my crest,” she finally whispered. She found her voice shaking a little; this gave him power over her in ways simple sex didn’t. 

Thanos’s thumb traced the length of her Talhei, from base to curve. Esi moaned and leaned back, pressing her head up towards his touch. He gently pinched the crest between forefinger and thumb, watched as she cried out and her hips began to roll harder against him. She whimpered, almost overwhelmed with the sensation of his touch, his other hand on her hip and pulling her down to him. 

The low growl that radiated up from his chest caught her attention and Esi opened her eyes to see Thanos’s face tightened. He strained a little and groaned again, his hips coming up in another earth-shattering roll she had to ride to keep from be knocked off of him. She gasped and whistled, “Yes, please. Please… again.” His hips came up in the same bucking roll and she cried out as his fingers stroked down her Talhei again. “Again,” she begged him and he growled again, hips coming up. “Yes. Yes, please. Please.” 

The edge was there, raw and slick with their sex. Esi moaned and dropped her forehead to his chest while Thanos continued to buck under her and stroke her crest. She felt herself clench and she gasped, moaned again, writhed against him and heard him echo her moan. “Esi,” he groaned and the need there pulled her sharply against him more securely than his hand would have. Together, they rocked and she clenched with a cry just when his hips came up once more with a roar.

And he filled her. 

His cum filled her, made her swell and groan. She fell against his chest and Thanos cupped his hand over her ass, just below the trailing edge of her Talhei. He grunted and his hips bucked once more before he lay still, panting and spent.

Silence spread through the room, broken only by their labored breathing and the soft sounds of skin on skin. With a shaky breath, Esi said the only thing she could think of, “God, I’m so tired. I haven’t slept for two days.”

“Sleep, then,” Thanos rumbled softly. “No one will bother you here.” 

Slowly, Esi drew herself off of his still-throbbing cock and tumbled to the floor beside him. “Shouldn’t you lock me up first?” she whispered. There was resentment starting to creep back into her voice, but she stopped when Thanos put one hand over hers.

“No.” She looked up and he smiled at her, a slow, almost gentle smile. “You’ve done as I asked. If you wish to sleep here undisturbed, it seems the least I can do.” With a low grunt, Thanos rolled to a sitting position and let his wrists rest on his knees. “The floor is not where I expected that to happen.”

“You had me chained to the floor,” Esi pointed out in amusement. “Where did you think it would happen?”

Thanos laughed. “I suppose I should have considered the possibility.” After a moment, he looked at her and Esi was surprised to see real affection there. It surprised her even more to realize she returned the feeling. She shook her head briefly to dispel it; it had to be post-sex afterglow. “Will you stay? Or shall I escort you back to your room? To your lover?” When she didn’t answer immediately, he added, “Will you be eased now? Peya… Peya said it was hard on you.”

“It is,” Esi said softly with a shrug. “This will ease it some, but unless I get pregnant immediately, it still comes back again. It’ll keep coming back until I’m pregnant or the estrus passes.” 

“For how long?” 

She shrugged. “It depends. If I’m not pregnant, I’ll probably get six hours to sleep, maybe get something to eat. Then it’ll be back.” 

Thanos nodded, then rolled to his feet and stood up, tying his robe closed again. “I’ll see to it you’re undisturbed for at least that long and will send you something to eat.”

“High protein, high carb,” she murmured. “This is exhausting.”

“I know just the thing,” he smiled. “Rest well, my pepper. Call me if you have need.”

Surprised, Esi nodded. “I... I will. Thank you.”

“And thank you.”

 

***

 

Again.

And again.

And again.

Five days into her estrus, Esi could feel it finally tapering off. She slumped against Thanos’s chest to rest, still breathing hard. “Is there more of that Xandarian stuff?” she mumbled into his chest.

Thanos grunted faintly. Esi blinked and looked up as the grunt became a snore.

The Mad Titan had been fucked completely unconscious. 

“Poor baby,” Esi sighed and patted his cheek. “In the end, you’re still a single.”


	11. Chapter 11

“I want all’a you morons to know this up front! There ain’t much pay in this gig.” Yondu paced the deck in front of his crew, hands behind his back and his eyes hard. “If you want in, great, let me know. If not, stay the fuck outta our way. Tullk has the ship while I’m gone.”

The gathered Ravagers eyed each other nervously for a moment before Taserface yelled, “How much is ‘ain’t much’?”

“With fuel and supplies, we might break even,” Luway answered from her place behind her adoptive father. “Kraglin and I are taking the  _ Station Wagon _ . Peter’s taking the  _ Milano _ .”

“Tullk’s got some side jobs lined up for while we’re gone. If you wanna make some cash, stay here and work those,” Yondu continued. “The drop ship leaves in ten hours. If you’re coming, be on it or get left behind.” He stood back and watched as his crew grumbled to themselves and their fellows, slowly sorting out into an obvious group that was coming and the rest of the crew. The former group was painfully small. With his jaw set tight, he turned away and stomped off for his quarters to pack.

“Dad.” Yondu paused as Luway caught up to him and matched his stride. “You’re sure this is legit? I mean, Thanos isn’t exactly small fry and a Centaurian on the inside? It seems really convenient.” Her Talhei bounced warily and he smiled slightly. Seeing her express herself that way never got old for him. 

“It’s a source I trust,” he said quietly. 

“Granddada!” A blue fist punched out of Luway’s pouch in time with the excited whistle and Yondu accepted his granddaughter without comment as Luway handed him Makeda. At eighteen months old, she was almost too big to fit anymore but Luway had been adamant: she would pouch and nurse until they were ready to wean. She had with the twins just like she had with Ayodele. Makeda would have nothing different. 

“You trust or you used to trust?” Luway asked just as quietly and Yondu whistled shortly at her, making his implant glow briefly. “Don’t say that in front of Makeda,” she added quickly. “I don’t want her cussing like Ayo does.”

“Why not? Ayo didn’t learn a word of it from me.” Luway glared and Yondu grinned at her. “It’s true and you know it, girlie. Yer mouth’s always been filthy.”

Luway grinned back at him and leaned against his shoulder briefly while her daughter played with the Ravager flames emblem on Yondu’s jacket. “It’s why you kept me,” she teased.

“That and yer skinny.”

“Were.”

Yondu snorted. “You think I was gonna say that? You think I ain’t learned nothin’ in twenty years?” He offered Makeda a fingertip and the toddler grabbed it firmly before starting to chew eagerly. “Did you teach ‘em that?” he asked Luway, indicating the chewing.

Luway chuckled. “Uncle Peter likes to remind them that you threaten to eat him if he’s not good. I think they’re taking it as an example.”

“I oughtta tan that boy.”

“You’ll do no such thing,” she shot back. “You lay a finger on my brother and you’ll never see your grandkids again.” They walked side by side for a few seconds in silence before Luway whistled and clicked, “You’re sure it’s not a trap, Dad? I hate the idea of one of ours enslaved as much as you do, but I’m just…”

“I know,” he answered. “There’s always a chance, but I don’t think so. I wouldn’t have even told you if I didn’t think it was real.” He bounced Makeda and made a surprised face at her, which she immediately echoed in delight. “You’re leavin’ the kids with Drani, right?”

“Kraglin keeps trying to leave me with Drani. Ayo, Shayna and Thulani are staying with her. Makeda’s still too little. I just can’t leave her yet.” Yondu glared at her and Luway shrugged without meeting his gaze. “I can’t. Not yet.”

Frustration flared in Yondu’s face and he stopped in the hallway to glare. “She’s plenty old enough to stay with her gramma,” he snapped and Makeda hiccuped in his arms, her half-formed Talhei wiggling without lifting. “She’s already eatin’ solid food, hon. She’ll be safer on Xandar.”

When Luway stopped to face him, Yondu knew he was going to lose this fight, just like every other fight he had ever tried to start with his adopted daughter over her children. She was fiercely stubborn and it was an inborn trait, one of many he loved about her. “We’ve gone over this. I’ll wean my kids when they’re ready to wean. She still has night terrors if she doesn’t sleep with me at least half of it and her nightmares bleed.” She paused with her hands on her hips, then sighed and reached to stroke the stripe of orange-red down her daughter’s head. “It’s not just about feeding her, Dad. You know what our nightmares are like. You know what they do, especially with an open Way. I can’t leave all my kids open like that. It’s going to be hard enough leaving the twins and Ayo.”

Yondu closed his eyes and nodded. The Way had opened for the Obfonteri clan shortly after Ayodele’s first moments out of her mother’s pouch. It had included Yondu, a sensation he hadn’t had since he was a child. He knew in theory that the Centaurians were an empathic people with a racial sense of wellbeing but it was all theory; those who lived off planet for more than a few years were said to “lose their Way” and become invisible, forever divided from their home clans. That first moment of awakening had been revelatory, like suddenly seeing color when everything had been greyscale before. He had been able to feel his daughter’s mind, her state of being, her mood and all the little personality quirks that made her unique. He had felt his granddaughter the same way, still smooth and new as a barely opened blossom. And he had felt his first mate, who had screamed like a debutant with a spider for almost ten minutes before Luway managed to shut Kraglin up. The Xandarian had taken longer than the others to adjust to the new communal state, but he was also unique in that no non-Centaurians had ever been documented as part of the Way.

To leave the kids alone, without their parents to shield them from outside minds and emotions…

“I wish you would stay safe,” he whistled softly and reached to pull his daughter’s forehead to his own. Her Talhei briefly flared up to shade his face then dropped back flush with her scalp in an affectionate gesture he wished he could reciprocate. “Oluwaseyi. I wish you would stay on Xandar. As much as I want you guarding my back, I want you and your children safely annoyed with Kraglin’s mother.”

“I know, Dad.” Luway cupped her hand to his neck with a soft sigh. “I know. But you’re stuck with me and being stuck with me means being stuck with the baby.” She paused and lifted her head. “Kraglin’s nervous.”

“Kraglin’s always nervous,” snorted Yondu, but he could feel his first mate and son-in-law’s restlessness, too. Without discussion, they started walking back toward the hangar where Kraglin and Luway’s family ship, the  _ Station Wagon _ , was docked. 

When they cleared the archway, they saw why. 

Kraglin and Peter Quill held blaster pistols at eye level, aimed at another Centaurian who was still yelling at them and waving his arms. Amadi, Yondu’s biological son, had been abandoned in their docking port at a station one day and Yondu hadn’t so much as batted an eye in picking up where his mother had apparently given up trying to raise him. The battle for Yondu’s attentions between his biological offspring and the adopted one(s) had made for a tense atmosphere for years and today was clearly no exception. “It don’ make no sense!” Amadi was yelling as Luway and Yondu approached, his oddly short Talhei stiffly straight over his head and twitching aggressively. Luway’s came up immediately in answer and the younger Centaurian did a double-take before stepping back and dropping his aggressive display. 

“Just ‘cuz you’re Yondu’s kid doesn’t mean you get to push us around,” Peter said in a sour tone. “You’ve never been able to push us around.”

“Daddy!” Makeda bounced in Yondu’s arms, her tiny blue fingers outstretched toward Kraglin. “Daddydaddydaddy!” In his turn, her father’s expression split open into a grin when he heard her and he promptly forgot about Amadi to collect his youngest daughter. 

“What’s all this about?” Yondu asked and Amadi turned his head just enough so he wouldn’t have to meet his father’s gaze. 

“Sweet brother blue takes exception to us going up against Thanos,” Peter said.

“Don’t call me that,” growled Amadi. “An’ it’s a suicide mission, Cap’n!”

“You don’t have to go,” Yondu said calmly and Amadi’s crest twitched. “I ain’t forcin’ anyone. I’m bein’ honest. There ain’t much cash in this job and it’s dangerous. Stay with Tullk and the others if you want.”

“She’s goin’.” Amadi jerked his chin in Luway’s direction and Yondu felt the mild surge of irritation from her before her Talhei bounced and rattled. “Peter’s goin’. Y’can’t get ridda me that easy.”

Kraglin flinched back when Luway’s crest flared up fully and she snapped at Amadi, “If we wanted to get rid of you, you self-involved ball of lard, we could have dumped you off at any station for the last eighteen fucking YEARS. You don’t have to go on this damn mission if you don’t want to, but you don’t get a say in whether or not we take it.” She took two long steps towards him and the younger Centaurian took half a step back and leaned away as she invaded close to him. She was easily four inches taller than he was and twenty pounds lighter, but her mass was more muscle than fat. Amadi wasn’t exactly obese himself, but he had inherited Yondu’s stocky stature and had ended up shorter than his father, rendering him almost square. His crest flattened tightly to his head while Luway’s arched over them both, fanned and wild. “This is not about you, Amadi,” she finally hissed in Centaurian. “This is about one of our own who needs help, the same way you needed help once. The way I needed help. Thanos has her and her family want her home.”

Amadi refused to look at her, his chin tucked and his gaze off to the side. After a moment, he huffed and clicked carefully, “I know that.” His Centaurian was strangely atonal and flat, sounding more like when Kraglin tried to speak it than the fluid, almost symphonic language produced by Yondu and Luway. His mother had been Xandarian and he had grown up without the pouch time that was so critical for full-blooded Centaurians’ development. “Just don’t want you dead.” The “you” he used was plural and Yondu knew he meant all of them, not just Luway or himself. As frustrated as the half-blood might be, they were his family and he was terrified of losing them. 

“You can help.” Everyone looked up at Kraglin where he stood bouncing Makeda against his shoulder. The toddler was only half-conscious, one hand pressed to her father’s face and the other fisted in the hair at the back of his neck. “We’re leavin’ the kids with my mom on Xandar. I’d feel better if I knew someone was guarding ‘em. And Mom.”

Amadi’s expression was a study in mixed disgust, curiosity and hope. “Why me?”

“Mom don’ speak a whistle of Centaurian,” Kraglin said. “The kids speak common fine, but I know they’d rather not have to.”

Yondu considered the sensations running through the Way and his connection to his family. Luway was proud of her mate for finding a way to diffuse the situation and simultaneously annoyed as hell because that solution meant leaving her kids with someone she didn’t fully trust. Kraglin was nervous and acknowledging her irritation with a flurry of apology and optimism. Makeda’s soft mind burbled against the others, a feeling like a small child blowing soap bubbles while the adults talked. Inside the ship, Ayodele, the oldest was doing her best to suppress her twin siblings’ emotions from the rest of the group, a constant static fog that kept their rambunctious playfulness out of the seriousness of the adults’ conversation. Shayna and Thulani appeared to be playing tag.

Peter, blind to the rest, was still angry and frustrated, ready to be gone and helping someone. While he was biologically Luway’s half-brother, Peter had steadfastly refused to believe her when she had tried to tell to him. They could all feel him, sense his location and mood, but he was unaware of them.

Amadi was a black hole where the Way should be. No one knew why.

“If you really want me to,” Amadi finally said in a reluctant voice, but his crest betrayed his hopeful desire to be included, “I guess I can keep an eye on ‘em.”

“I’d be grateful,” Kraglin said with a nod.

Amadi checked Luway’s face, then Yondu’s and they both nodded, following Kraglin’s lead. Slowly, Yondu watched his son’s face relax as he nodded back. “Okay. I can do that.” He turned and started to walk away, then paused and said, “Don’ leave without me, okay?”

“We won’t,” Luway promised. As soon as he was out of the hangar, Luway turned on her mate and glared at him. “What the fuck, Krags?”

Kraglin cupped one hand over Makeda’s ear and glared back. “He needed somethin’, Waysi. It ain’t fair to leave him out in the cold so much. He’s family, too.”

Luway opened her mouth to answer, but Makeda stirred and made a tiny, fussy sound before turning her head toward her mother. Luway sighed and nodded, holding out her hands as they all felt the baby’s pointed hunger. Once Makeda was tucked back into Luway’s pouch and nursing with her mother’s arms wrapped around her, Luway regarded her husband quietly. “Did it have to be this?” she asked. 

“Mom’ll keep him in line,” Kraglin assured her. He pulled her close and kissed her forehead, then turned back toward the ship and whistled, a short, quick non-verbal interjection. Ayo and the twins appeared shortly after and trooped down to the deck. “It’s gonna be okay,” Kraglin whispered and stroked his fingers down Luway’s cheek. Thulani’s crest flared a few inches reflexively when he spotted his grandfather and ran to him for a hug. As he hugged him, Yondu tried not to think about how much taller the boy had gotten in the last few months and how fast his crest was becoming mobile. He’d be able to flare it consciously in just a few years. Yondu wasn’t ready for another of his grandkids to be considered an ‘adult.’ While Shayna, Thulani’s twin leaned against her father’s hip, Ayodele rested her chin on her mother’s shoulder. 

“I wish you’d let us come,” Ayo murmured softly.

“Out of the question,” Luway replied with a snort.

“I know.” Ayo’s tone was annoyed, but she didn’t move away from her mother and Luway reached back to rub her daughter’s ear affectionately. At fourteen, Ayo was just as capable as either of her parents had been at that age and maybe more eager to prove her worth on missions than even Amadi. “But I want to help. I’m a better shot than most of the crew and--”

“Out of the question,” Kraglin echoed Luway. 

“Don’ even think about it, buttercup,” Yondu added. “An’ you’ll be better help takin’ care of your brother and sister.”

“I just LOVE being the reason everyone else has for not doing something they want to do,” Thulani announced, his voice muffled against Yondu’s shoulder. “Really makes me feel like a valuable member of the family.”

“He’s picking this sarcasm up from you, isn’t he?” Luway snorted at Peter, who tried to look innocent and utterly failed. “He’s eight! He’s too young to be sarcastic and morose!”

Peter grinned at her as he holstered his pistol. “Lighten up, Lu.” She continued to glare at him, but he stepped close to her and hugged her. Her Talhei twitched just under his nose, threatening to smack him in the face, but they both knew it was an idle threat. “Don’t worry so much. Your kids are awesome and everything’s gonna be fine.”

“Yeah,” Kraglin muttered. “If we ask real nice, Thanos will just give her to us. Maybe we’ll even get a tea party!”

“Go finish packing,” Yondu told his grandson and gave Thulani a little push toward the ship. “The Mad Titan bein’ so keen on tea,” he said and Kraglin grinned. “We’ve got a few hours before ship drop. We should probably get some rest.” As the various members of his family wandered off to pack or nap or snuggle as necessary, he watched for a moment and let out a long sigh. Something warm lived in his chest now. Something that hadn’t been there before he had picked Luway up on her biological father’s orders. Family. He had family now. A family he loved, who loved him and weren’t afraid to say it.

It almost made up for the hole where Stakar and the Ravagers used to be.

 

***

 

Martinex smiled to himself when he saw the notification in his message box confirming separation of three smaller ships from the larger body of the Eclector. The bait was taken. The hook was set. If there was a Ravager clan that could pull this off, it was Yondu’s. “They took it, boss,” he said into his comm.

“Good,” Stakar answered quietly.


	12. Chapter 12

The door to Esi’s room opened and Peya lifted her head from the blankets to blink toward it. Esi crept inside and closed the door after her, stopping near it with her head down and her face ashamed. “I’m back,” she whispered softly.

Peya rushed to her and wrapped her arms around Esi’s neck, pulling her close with a little sound in her throat. “ _Shbebe_ ,” she whispered in Esi’s ear. “Home. Safe.”

Esi felt her spine release and she hugged Peya just as tightly. “I’m sorry,” she whispered as she clung to the Krylorian woman.

“No,” Peya said and shook her head. “No sorry. You need. The lord provides.” She leaned back to cradle Esi’s face in her palm and smiled at her. “ _Shbebe_ , you need. No sorry.” Esi slumped a little and let herself cry while Peya rocked her slowly, hushing her. “ _Debahbeh_?” she murmured curiously.

Esi looked up and sniffed. “Sorry?”

“ _Debahbeh_ ,” repeated Peya and she paused to consider. She stood back slightly and put her hand on Esi’s belly, near where her pouch ended. “Did you? Did the lord? _Debahbeh_.”

“Pregnant?” guessed Esi and Peya shrugged and nodded. Clearly, it wasn’t an exact translation, but it was close enough. “I don’t know. I won’t really know for a few weeks and I won’t be certain unless I miss my flow, six weeks from now.”

“Guess?”

Esi thought about it for a moment and shrugged, just letting her head rest on Peya’s shoulder as the Krylorian rocked her back and forth. She let out a long sigh and pressed her nose into Peya’s neck. “I missed you,” she whispered.

Peya made a soft sound in her throat and Esi looked up in time to catch her kiss, slow and sincere and loving. “And I you,” she murmured back. “ _Shbebe_.”

“ _Shbebe_ ,” Esi agreed, stroking Peya’s hair back from her face. “I love you.”

Peya grinned. “ _Sha beh_ ,” she whispered, enunciating the two words carefully. She stroked her thumb over Esi’s cheek. “I love you.”

“ _Sha beh_ ,” Esi echoed and Peya nodded eagerly. With a long sigh, Esi folded Peya close to her chest and snuggled against her neck. “ _Sha beh_ , Peya. _Sha beh_.”

***

Esi slept in Peya’s arms for almost twelve hours straight. Peya woke up intermittently and got up to use the restroom, eat some of the food the guards brought, stretch her legs. But she always returned to curl her arms around Esi again, holding her _shbebe_.

Several hours after Esi had woken up and they were sharing breakfast, a knock on the door made them both freeze and stare. Esi bounced her Talhei warily, then stood up and went to the door. “Who is it?” she asked quietly.

“It’s me.” Petra’s voice sounded broken and desperately lonely. “Please, Esi. Let me in.”

Esi glanced at Peya and saw the Krylorian’s eyes harden, but she nodded and Esi eased the door open. “It’s not like we’re allowed to lock them,” she pointed out wryly and she stepped back to let Petra inside.

“Peya!” Petra rushed into the room and almost threw herself into her sister’s lap, wrapped her arms around her and clung to her. She babbled rapidly in Krylorian as Peya held her gently, her face stony. A few times, Esi heard “ _sha beh_ ” and raised an eyebrow at Peya, who shook her head slightly. Maybe the context made it mean something else.

After a few minutes of this, Peya gently nudged her sister and put one hand over her mouth. Petra stuttered into silence, her face streaked with tears. When she was sure Petra wasn’t going to keep talking, Peya said quietly, “I love Esi. I stay with her. Sister love different. Still love. Still sister.” She raised her eyebrows in question and Petra nodded mutely. “Grateful to the lord. No love the lord.” She dropped her hands and stood up from the table, crossed to where Esi was standing and slipped her arms around her waist, leaning in close. “ _Sha beth_ Esi,” she whispered.

Esi leaned down to kiss her forehead and whispered, “Does that mean you’re telling her that you love me?” Peya nodded and Esi smiled. “ _Sha beth_ Peya.” Peya smiled and hugged her tighter.

“You don’t know love,” Petra spat at them, her eyes full of angry tears. “You… you cerulean harlot. You have known the love of my lord and you still cling to my sister. You’re a fool.”

Esi snorted. “I have known the sizable purple serpent of your lord. I’m not certain Thanos is capable of loving anyone.” She paused and looked down at Peya for a second, then grinned. “I much prefer your sister.” Her eyes darted up to Petra’s face and she hissed, “Pink doesn’t clash quite so badly with my coloration, you see. It’s all about aesthetics.” Peya buried her face in Esi’s shoulder to smother a snort of laughter and Petra stood up straighter, her face flaming red in a mix of embarrassment and rage.

Inarticulate, Petra sputtered a few words in Krylorian and stormed out again, leaving Peya hanging on Esi and giggling helplessly. “Pink clashes worse,” she managed to squeak. “No pink red together. Much eye pain.”

“I know,” Esi grinned and pulled Peya up to kiss her gently. “Shows how much I really love you that I don’t care.” While Peya continued to giggle, Esi leaned to rest her forehead against the Krylorian’s, then arched her Talhei up to shade their faces. “ _Sha beh_ , Peya,” she whispered.

Peya opened her mouth to answer and instead let out a squeak of surprise as the entire complex rocked under them, throwing them both against each other and to the floor. Alert sirens began to blare and almost as fast as she had left, Petra came sprinting back into the room. “There is an attack,” she gasped. “From nowhere.”

“Knowhere?” Esi asked in surprise, her Talhei bouncing nervously.

Petra looked exasperated. “No. Surprise attack. Ravager ships. Three.”

“Only?” Peya asked and Petra nodded. “Crushed.”

Petra nodded. “It does seem likely, but they have invaded when our lord’s defenses are low. Terraxia and the Obliterator left this morning. Ebony Maw will not return for another week and the others of the Black Order are assigned elsewhere.”

Esi frowned, thinking hard. “Ravagers. Did you see which clan?”

Petra raised her eyebrows. “Clan?”

“I need a better look.” Esi walked quickly out of the room and started hunting for a viewport that might give her an angle on their attackers. Peya followed close behind her and Petra trailed farther back. When she found a port, Esi pulled herself up onto the sill and peered out into the starfield.

The ships weren’t hard to locate. Lasers flashed back and forth as several of Thanos’s small Kree defenders darted around, occasionally exploding when the invaders’ weapons pinpointed them. Something flew directly in front of her viewport and Esi squeaked, clinging to the sill to keep from overbalancing.

But she had seen something she knew.

She pressed her face to the port glass, staring. “Centaurians,” she breathed. The ship that had sped past her view was clearly painted with Ravager flames under a stylized Talhei standing tall in an aggressive flare. She didn’t see a similar symbol on the other ships, though they were also painted with the familiar Ravager flames. She looked down into Peya’s curious face and felt herself almost glowing with excitement. “They’re Centaurians! They’re like me.”

“And you wish to believe they are here for you?” Petra said with a skeptical edge in her voice. “So important are you that your whole planet sent out ships to retrieve you?”

Esi glared at her, her Talhei flaring angrily. “No, but if my ship did hire Ravagers to look for me, they’d probably favor a Centaurian Ravager clan.” She looked down at Peya, her eyes alight. “Come with me, _shbebe_.”

Peya stared at her and then her face split into a smile. “I go.”

“Peya!” Petra cried, her voice injured and pleading. “No. Please, no.”

Esi hopped down from the viewport and stood beside Peya as the Krylorian turned to her sister with eyes that begged as much as they were steely. “I go. I go with Esi. Esi _beta shi. Sha beth_ Esi. I go.” She cupped her hands to Petra’s face and kissed her forehead. “Sister. Always I love. I go.”

The complex rocked again and several Kree guards sprinted past them in the hallway. “We need to find a way out there,” Esi said quickly and Peya nodded, releasing Petra and coming to her side.

“Escape,” Peya said in a low voice. “Eject.” She pointed down the hallway and laced her fingers through Esi’s before they started to run. Behind them, Petra stood alone.

***

“A frontal assault, Dad? Really?” Luway rolled the Station Wagon’s guns around to aim at another of the Kree defensive ships, two of which exploded immediately. “How was this a better idea than… I dunno, anything!?”

Yondu whistled sharply into the comm and his daughter fell to grumbling and clicking under her breath. “We keep ‘em busy while Quill circles ‘round,” he snapped. “It makes sense.”

“What was that?” Kraglin fired the reverse thrusters and spun their ship back toward the massive defensive compound. “Waysi, did you see? There, in the port.”

Luway aimed her guns at the line of viewports and scanned it, looking for what her lifemate had seen. There. In one window. Not far from what looked like they could be escape pod ejection tubes. A flare of brilliant red just above a splash of blue. “That’s gotta be our girl,” Luway cheered. “She’s no idiot, either. She’s headed for an escape pod.”

A few seconds later, an escape pod fired off from the ship and Kraglin rolled the ship to open the lower port dock. The pod drifted, then fired its maneuver jets to speed away from them. “What’s she doin’?” Kraglin cried and swung them around to follow her.

“Second pod firing,” Luway yelled. “And a third. What the hell is going on?”

“Smokescreen,” Yondu said. “Someone don’ want her gettin’ picked up. They’re firing all the pods so we don’t know which one’s her.”

“Can they be remotely piloted?” Luway asked.

“No,” Yondu said grimly. “There’s someone in every one of those pods, baby. Might even be other girls like ours. Maybe she’s part of a jailbreak. Can’t say until we pick ‘em up.”

“There’s got to be thirty of them now,” cried Kraglin in despair. “How’re we gonna know which one’s hers?”

“They got communications?”

Before anyone could confirm, Luway slapped her dash comm to the standard open frequency and yelled, “HEY, BITCHES. Can I get a holler for Alpha Centauri?”

Immediately, one of the pods which seemed to be drifting aimlessly flashed its emergency light and a voice answered back in a familiar series of clicks and whistles, “Get me the fuck out of here!”

“There she is!” Luway called smugly as she sent the family comm circuit to the pod and patched her in.

“Yeah, yeah,” huffed Kraglin. He rocked their ship around and used a rapid series of shield buffets to redirect drifting pods and deflect the active ones until he could get the grapple fastened on the pod he wanted. As soon as he had latched, he fired thrusters and shot away again. “Got her!”

“What about the others?” Luway asked, watching the pods receding into the distance. “What if there were other girls in there?”

“No other girls,” a voice panted over the comm. “The only ones who were leaving are in this pod.”

“You’ve got more than one in there?” Kraglin asked in surprise. He keyed the grapple to pull them in faster. “How many?”

“Just two,” the voice said and her voice was musical with repressed laughter, “and we’re very friendly.” She squeaked and the comm was briefly filled with her laughter before she gasped, “Stop it, _shbebe_! Stop!” Abruptly, the comm cut off and Luway chuckled.

“We still need to get outta here,” Kraglin reminded them. When he was sure the pod was safely in cargo, he called, “Secure! We’re boltin’, Cap’n.”

“Go,” Yondu agreed. “We’ll clean up here.”

“Be safe, Dad,” Luway added.

“We will. Love ya, girlie.”

“You, too.”

***

Thanos found Petra curled into a ball beside the expended escape pod bays. “She’s gone,” he said quietly when he saw her and Petra lifted her head with a sniffle, “isn’t she?” He reached down and Petra’s grief spilled over again, her arms coming up and pleading for his embrace. He gathered her against his chest with a sigh and stroked her hair. “My poor dear.” Easily, he stood and settled her against him, holding her as he started to walk. “Ravagers,” he growled. “Stealing what is mine. Harming what is mine.” He carried Petra all the way to the communications room where he ordered, “Send word to the Black Order. I want Esi Okorie returned to me, alive and unharmed.” He paused, then added, “Preferably before her next estrus.”

When he turned away again, Petra reached up to touch his neck. “My lord?”

“Yes, my dear?”

She swallowed hard and sniffed. “My sister? What of Peya?”

He thrummed quietly in the back of his throat, a sound that resonated through his chest and made her senses vibrate. “Do you wish her captured? Killed? I will send word to Terraxia. Or perhaps Ebony Maw would be more appropriate. He is more likely to bring a torture victim back to me alive.”

Petra didn’t respond and he finally looked down at her silence to see the horror in her face. “She is my sister, my lord. I only wish her home safely.”

“Hmm.” He shifted her in his arms and she wound her arms around his neck to snuggle closer. “I forget sometimes that siblings hold affection for each other among some people. I am more accustomed to conflict and competition.” He stroked her hair again and Petra buried her face in his shoulder. “Very well. I shall tell my children to bring her as well, unharmed. For you, my dear.” He smiled to himself when she let out a shuddering sigh. He did try to keep his pets happy.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: General warnings for explicit sex, A/O dynamics, bondage, D/s and a massive eggplant dick. Chapter-specific warnings for discussions of pregnancy and miscarriage and angst. (and honestly, I just wanted to use this gif ‘cuz... damn.)**

  


[Originally posted by gunshyghosts](http://tmblr.co/ZMOvWd2SUMgJA)

 

Terraxia stared at her communications screen without really seeing anything. She could hear Ebony Maw speaking, hear his arrogant voice and the sneer that underlay every word he said to her. She was nothing but a poor shadow of his father, not even good enough to be considered a sister. Not that he thought much of his sisters, either. “So I am reduced to domestic animal control?” she spat in disgust. “Sent to retrieve his runaway pets, save them from trees?”

“You should thank him for noticing you, cur.” Maw turned his grey, narrow head to answer a question asked of him in the room, then looked back at Terraxia. “He wishes them both alive and unhurt. Do you think you’re quite capable of restraining your well-documented urge to kill?”

“I found her first,” Terraxia huffed. “Certainly I can find her again.”

She and Ebony Maw stared at each other in disgust for a few seconds and then he smiled. It was not a friendly smile. “He did mention his preference that she be retrieved before her next estrus. Rumors have hinted that he has a taste for Centaurians now.” When Terraxia glared viciously, he added in a mockingly soothing voice, “Dear sister, I’m sure it’s only a phase. Perhaps it’s the pouch? Surely someone out there possesses the ability to alter--”

Terraxia snapped the communications unit off. She wasn’t sure which annoyed her more: the suggestion that she change her body to suit her progenitor or the saccharine use of ‘sister.’ She swatted the nearest Kree soldier with the back of her fist, sending the man sprawling sharply into the wall with the crack of tendons and bone. The two men who had stood on either side of him took half steps away from the space where he had been, both looking tense. “Chart a course for Knowhere,” she snapped. “Post a bounty for information regarding the whereabouts of any Ravager clans recently active in this area of space.”

The guards acknowledged her and vanished, one of them collecting their companion’s shattered remains as they went. Briefly, Terraxia wondered if she should invest in hardier guards. Kree seemed to break so easily.

***

The door of the pod cracked open, then practically ejected its contents all over the docking bay deck. The tangle of limbs was a riot of color: royal blue and brilliant pink and red-orange and both of the women were giggling like children. Luway watched them as they struggled first to their knees and then separated into two distinct people again. As much as she was used to seeing her own family, it still seemed odd to see another Centaurian. She bounced her crest once, just enough to catch the other Centaurian’s attention and then smiled at the answering bounce. “Esi Okorie?” she said as she came forward.

“Yes, I’m Gbemisola,” Esi smiled brilliantly as she stood up. When Luway was close enough, she opened her arms and they embraced, pulling another semi-hysterical giggle out of Esi. “Who should I name my rescuer?”

“I’m Luway Obfonteri,” Luway grinned. “Oluwaseyi. My mate, Kraglin is setting our course to rendezvous with the rest of our crew and then we’ll make contact with your ship to get you home.”

Esi sighed and smiled with a nod, then cupped her hands to Luway’s face. “It’s so good to see another Centaurian,” she clicked softly. 

“How long have you been out of the Way?” Luway whistled back.

“Fifteen years, give or take. You?”

“Since I was a child.” Luway paused and then hugged Esi tightly. “It’s good to see another woman. I’ve been surrounded by men for far too long, save my own daughters.”

Esi’s crest rose in excitement. “You have children?”

Luway grinned. “Four.” She glanced down just as Makeda made a little squirmy motion and then peeped out of her pouch. “My youngest, Makeda.”

Esi stared and then her eyes started to fill with tears. She opened her mouth, then closed it again and looked at Luway, her eyes pleading. Luway smiled and reached to scoop her daughter free before extending her to the other woman. Makeda squeaked and whistled her baby nonsense, then settled against Esi’s chest, one hand curled in the fabric of her shirt. “ _Mbebe_ ,” Esi clicked through her tears, running her thumb along Makeda’s preformed crest. 

“You can pouch her if you want.”

Esi stared at Luway, who grinned and nodded encouragement. It took a moment of struggle before Esi had moved her non-pouch-friendly shirt enough to tuck the baby into her pouch but once she had, she wrapped her arms around herself and Makeda and just rocked slowly, crying silently. She jumped a little when Peya touched her shoulder and came to stand next to her. “ _Shbebe_ ,” the Krylorian whispered, “okay?”

Esi tried to find words and just shrugged when they failed her. She lifted her shirt so her partner could see the swell of her pouch, the little blue face peeking out with fingers curled over the edge. “So very okay,” she finally whispered.

Luway smiled, watching the two women holding each other and fussing over her daughter. She knew the ache she’d seen in Esi’s face intimately: she had lost several pregnancies before Ayodele had finally stuck and two more before the twins were born. A few of the earlier pregnancies had been twins. After a few minutes, she cleared her throat gently and grinned at the embarrassed expression on Esi’s face. “I’m not asking for her back,” she assured her. “It’s safer to ride in harnesses, though. Kraglin will whine and nobody wants that.”

“Do you captain your ships yourselves?” Esi asked, returning to common as she and Peya fell into step with Luway. 

“Kraglin and I own this ship together,” she answered. “Family ship with room for the kids. We dock with my father’s ship, the Eclector if he needs us or we’re visiting. He’s captain of the Ravager clan.”

“I didn’t know there was a Centaurian Ravager clan,” Esi said.

Luway chuckled. “There isn’t. I think there’s a blue singularity that follows Yondu around, though. We keep gravitating back to him. He found me when I was about twelve and adopted me, someone abandoned Amadi on his doorstep and he adopted him, and then Kraglin and I started popping out babies.”

“So, Kraglin’s not--”

“He’s Xandarian,” Luway interrupted in a low voice and her Talhei rattled a warning. “I’m only half myself but we do okay.”

“Xandarian.” Luway glanced at Esi’s face and was surprised to see tears there again. “Your kids are half Xandarian?” When she nodded, Esi stopped walking and hugged Makeda again, almost sobbing. Peya stood beside her and held her until she could speak again. “My captain,” she whistled to Luway. “He was going… he agreed to father for me. We tried and… and I lost the baby. I thought maybe we couldn’t, maybe we were just too different. But…”

Luway pulled Esi into a close hug again and whistled in her ear, “I know. I lost nine pregnancies. Twelve babies in all.” They clung to each other while Esi sobbed and Luway found herself starting to cry, too, finally allowing herself to say to someone that she had miscarried so many times. She had never told Kraglin how many, only that she had lost a few. 

“How could you keep going?” Esi sobbed against Luway’s neck. “One was too many. I wanted to die. I still do. How do you lose so much and still keep going?”

Luway considered the question, then turned Esi’s face so she was looking at Peya and whispered in her ear, “You want to raise babies with her?” When Esi nodded, Luway kissed her cheek. “That’s how.”

With a little whimper, Esi rushed to Peya and kissed her. The Krylorian had obviously not a clue what they had been talking about, but she held Esi and kissed her back tenderly. Luway smiled and felt a pang in her chest: she wanted Kraglin to hold her. She cleared her throat again and inclined her head toward the passenger area. “Let’s get you buckled in.”

***

Martinex stared at his screen and then hammered his fist into the comm button. “Captain, we’ve got a problem.”

“What is it?” Stakar responded quietly. From the background noise, he was on the bridge and probably didn’t want to spread concern. 

“There’s a new bounty up on the Knowhere boards,” Martinex said and ran his fingertip over the line of text. “Five thousand for information about active Ravagers in the cube around Thanos’s space. I think Yondu’s crew got that bounty, but the Titan’s not happy about it.”

Stakar swore under his breath and sighed. “We’d best spread the word and clear out of that cube ourselves, then.”

“You want me to contact the  _Eclector_?”

“Anon only,” Stakar grumbled, “and stop refreshing the boards, Marty. Yondu’s a big boy. He can take care of himself.”

“I…” Martinex pinched his lips in a sheepish smile and said, “Yes, sir.” Sometimes the captain knew him too well.

***

“Attention all passengers and crew,” Kris Furlan’s voice boomed over the intercom. “As many of you know, we lost one of our family a few months ago. Esi Okorie sacrificed her freedom to save half of our crew. As of oh four hundred thirty-seven today, Esi Okorie is coming home.”

The ship roared with dozens of raised voices in a dozen languages and from many different anatomies. Shipmates hugged each other, cheered and danced, tripped over each other and laughed. Risa grinned at her Xandarian assistant, Jobi as he rushed to hug her in glee. On the bridge, Gorjin pumped a fist over his head and howled his approval. 

From his office, Kris flipped through the cameras and watched his ship celebrate the news. That call from Udonta’s first mate had eased something in his chest and he closed his eyes to consider it. Esi would be home soon. He thought maybe he should send the ship’s cleaning programs to tidy her quarters, maybe start up her heating cone so her room was warm when she got there. More than anything, he wanted to hold her, hear her say his name. He had missed her painfully and far more than he thought he would, especially considering Risa’s companionship in the interim. 

When he had given them a few minutes to celebrate, Kris keyed directly to Gorjin’s comm and said, “I’m sending you the coordinates for the rendezvous. Udonta’s man said they would be there in eighteen hours or so.”

“Fan-fucking-tastic, sir.” Kris listened to him inputting the information and heard the ship’s engines whining to life to redirect them. “If you don’t mind my saying, sir,” Gorjin added in an undertone, “you haven’t forgotten your promise, have you?”

Kris chuckled. “No, Gorjin, I have not forgotten my promise. I still fully intend to try to get Esi pregnant when she comes back if she still wants me to. Right now, I’m just focused on getting her home.”

“Same here, sir. Ship’s just not been right without her.”

“I agree.” He stretched his arms over his head and sighed. “I’m going to get some sleep, Gorjin. Wake me if anything happens. Otherwise, the ship’s yours.”

“Thank you, sir. Sleep well.”

***

Esi and Peya fell asleep together, curled up and buttoned securely into one of the acceleration couches. Makeda seemed content with the situation, so Luway let her stay in Esi’s pouch. Once Kraglin had punched in their destination, he leaned back in his pilot’s chair to grin at her. “How’re you, beautiful?”

Luway pushed his arms out of the way and crawled into his lap, straddled his legs and snuggled her face down against his neck. “Pretty good. Not only did we pick up a nice bounty, she’s an excellent babysitter.”

“I noticed,” Kraglin chuckled and settled his hands on the lower slope of her back, his thumbs circling gently. “I felt the Way spike. What were you talking about?”

“Nothing.” 

He kissed her temple and let his lips linger there before he whispered, “Y’can’t lie to me anymore, Waysi. I can feel it when you do. Talk to me, hon. You’ve been holdin’ something for a long, long time an’ I wanna help.”

Luway squirmed and pushed her face harder against his skin, her Talhei rustling uncomfortably. “I don’t want to talk about it, Kraglin. If I did, I would have told you a long time ago. Just let it go. Please.”

“I felt you,” he whispered. “Somethin’ she said put a spike through your heart so long and deep that I thought it’d pull me right in with it. Somethin’ that hurt you an’ still hurts you.” When she didn’t respond, he nosed her face. “I love you, Waysi. Loved you before I knew what it meant. If you’re hurtin’, I wanna know why.”

“If you want to keep loving me,” Luway whispered back, “you’ll stop asking.”

“I’m always gonna love you. I’m not even sure I know how to not.” He lifted his hand and stroked it down the length of her Talhei, holding her close. “Talk to me.”

Luway took a long breath and let it out again before she whispered, “You remember when we first started trying?” He made a soft acknowledging sound and she continued, “You remember all those times you heard me in the head crying?” He nodded and hugged her a little more. “You thought I was crying because I was scared we couldn’t have kids, right?” He nodded again. “I was crying because I’d miscarried again.”

“Again.” She could feel his chest shaking and his heart hammering. “Baby, how many… how many times?”

“Nine, all told,” she whispered. “Seven before Ayo. Three sets of twins. Two more before Shayna and Thulani.” They sat in silence while he held her against his chest, listening to each other breathe. “I couldn’t tell you,” Luway whispered. “I knew you’d blame yourself and it was never your fault. I’m the one with divergent anatomy. I’m the one who couldn’t keep them alive.”

“You shut yer mouth,” Kraglin growled and Luway twitched in surprise. She leaned back and stared into his face, surprised at the anger mixed with the tears in his blue eyes. He reached up and stroked her face, his touch gentle in spite of that anger and he hissed, “I love you, Oluwaseyi. Losin’ our babies weren’t your fault. Weren’t my fault. Weren’t nobody’s fucking fault. These things happen an’ it hurts like hell an’ I wish it didn’t, but it happens. And I wish you’d told me sooner. You never had to carry this alone.” He reached with his other hand and cradled her face in his palms. “I love you an’ the Cap’n loves you an’ we would have held you while you hurt. You know that. We would have hurt with you, sure, but you wouldn’a been alone in it.”

“Daddy?” They both looked up at Makeda’s voice and felt the burst of anxiety from her. “Mama…” 

“I’ll go get her,” Luway whispered and started to pull herself out of his lap.  
Kraglin caught her hand at the wrist and tugged until she looked at him. “I love you, Waysi.”

She smiled and leaned down to kiss him, stretched her Talhei to shade his face. “I know. I love you, too.” Makeda’s anxiety spiked a little higher and she whistled nervously for her mother, making Luway grin. “Better get the kid before she starts screaming.”

“Come right back, ‘kay?” 

“Who’s getting clingy?” Luway teased and kissed him again, but Kraglin stared at her intently, serious. “Fine, I’ll be right back.” When she came around the corner and into the passenger bay, she found Esi sitting up and crooning to Makeda, slowly rocking her. “I heard someone was awake,” she smiled.

“Yeah,” Esi murmured without looking away from the baby. “I think waking up in a strange pouch freaked her out a little.”

“Feeling her father freak out probably didn’t help.” Luway reached down just as Makeda’s hands came up and she collected her daughter to her chest without tucking her away. “It’s okay,  _mbebe_ ,” she whispered and clicked, kissing her forehead. “Daddy’s okay.” When she tilted her head, she saw the concerned expression on Esi’s face. “Mm?”

“You’ve… developed a Way,” Esi said softly. “Just among your family?”

“It opened right after our oldest peeked,” Luway confirmed. “It seems pretty indiscriminate about who it calls family, too, what with me being only half and the kids being only a quarter Centaurian. It seems like it triggered off the biological lines and then sort of… kept going.” She shrugged. “Yondu’s my adoptive father, no genetic relationship but the Way included him. Kraglin doesn’t have a drop of Centaurian blood but is genetically related to the kids and the Way included him. It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but yeah. It formed all the same.” Makeda shook her head suddenly and then sneezed, her crest bouncing a few inches away from her scalp reflexively. “Bless you!”

“Baby sneezes,” Esi said fondly, then looked embarrassed. “I said that out loud, didn’t I?”

Luway grinned. “Yeah, but it’s okay. We’ve been there, too.” She kissed Makeda’s head. “We’ve still got a few hours before we get there if you want to get some more sleep.”

“Thanks,” Esi smiled and snuggled back in beside Peya.

Luway buttoned them back into the field and walked back up to where Kraglin was still waiting. She settled into the copilot’s seat and balanced Makeda’s feet on her knees. “Who’s a big girl?” she cooed cheerfully while the baby squeaked and clicked in delight. 

Kraglin reached over and ran his hand over her arm, up to her shoulder. “I’m always gonna love you,” he whispered. “You know that, right?”

Luway smiled and turned her head to kiss his wrist. “I know. I don’t always believe it in my head, but I think my heart knows.”

“That’s good ‘nough for me,” he said and Makeda squeaked her agreement.


	14. Chapter 14

“Be safe, Dad.”

“We will. Love ya, girlie.”

“You, too.”

His sense of the Way and his family receded and Yondu cut the general comm connection to switch to a direct line to the Milano. “Y’ready for this shit, squirt?”

“Course I’m ready,” Peter Quill shot back. The flashy ship barrel-rolled over Yondu’s M-ship’s cockpit and shot a few quick lasers into the Kree guardian ships which were massing for another attack. “What exactly were you planning again?”

“Cripple the lander,” Yondu sighed in exasperation. “He can’ exactly jump this whole damn station to chase us down an’ if we keep him station-bound, he won’ be able to follow until it’s fixed.”

“He’s got other people,” Peter commented dryly.

“You think I’m a fool, boy?” snorted Yondu. “I know that. He’s the one I’m worried about, though. The others is small fry.”

“Here they come!” The Kree ships had finished their maneuvers and were flashing out toward them in a winged wedge shape. Yondu studied their formation and slammed his M-ship into a direction that put him somewhere other than where Peter was and he saw the formation sluggishly moving after him, apparently having decided he was more dangerous than Peter’s brightly painted speed job. The Milano darted around to strafe them from another angle and Yondu grinned; that’d teach them.

Between the two of them, they managed to reduce the number of Kree ships from the double digits to around eight. While Peter kept the remaining ships busy, Yondu rolled his M-ship around and readied the torpedoes that would take out the docking bays along the station’s underside. Scrapping the bays would also scrap anything docked in them in addition to making it more difficult for Thanos’s station to receive shipments or reinforcements. “Firing one,” he told Peter and released the first wave. They rocked the station and he heard Peter whoop in excitement at the secondary explosions visible along the surface of the station’s asteroid. “Firing two,” said Yondu. Another wave of destruction washed over the underside of the station. “Firing--”

Something jerked his ship hard. Yondu shook his head and reached to adjust his aim on the torpedoes. The ship jerked again, knocking him sharply against his restraints. “Yondu!” Peter cried.

“I’m--” Before he could complete his reassurances, the M-ship jerked once more and Yondu heard something explode in the rear of the ship. Smoke filled the cockpit and he choked. The control yoke danced under his hand and the view spun ahead of him as the ship was shaken and rolled by another force.

“Surrender.”

The voice that boomed out of his communications sounded annoyed and tired in the way a parent got tired of fighting with a child having a tantrum. Yondu felt his skin crawl and chewed his lip. That was the voice of authority, the voice of a Titan. The voice of a madman.

That was Thanos.

“Surrender or I will swat you like the irritating flies you are.” Something shook his ship like a dog with a rat and Yondu could only cling to his restraint harness and hope it held. He heard Peter’s voice echoing in the background of the communications, but Thanos continued to drown him out: “You have stolen something from me which I want returned. Surrender the controls of your ships. Now.”

“Do it, Quill,” Yondu yelled and swatted at his control panel to release control of his ship to the Titan’s computers. The ship stopped jerking and rattling and Yondu stared out his viewport as he swung toward the asteroid station and it began to grow. He could see the Milano coming in the same way off to his left and closed his eyes briefly. At least Peter had listened to him long enough to survive this part of the encounter. The ships both came to rest in one of the docking ports and Yondu peered out at the damage done by his torpedoes: not nearly as extensive as he would have expected, but this was one of the ports that had taken less damage and was still functional.

The doors popped open and Kree swarmed inside. Yondu held up his hands in surrender and was roughly removed from his restraints to be marched briskly down to the port floor. He and Peter were both shoved to their knees and they waited there, eyeing each other nervously. They listened to the ringing footsteps as the Mad Titan himself strode down to stare at them. Massive purple fingers reached down, yanked him to his feet, and flipped Yondu’s jacket to the side so he could study the Ravager flames. “Ravager. Lowlife mercenaries. I would have thought better options would be available to her peers.” He released the jacket and let Yondu drop back to his knees again. “Where are you taking her?”

“Who?” Yondu replied.

Thanos stared down at him through the frame of his helmet. “Do not try my patience, Ravager. I have little left in this matter. Tell me.”

“I might,” Yondu drawled back, “if I knew what the hell yer talkin’ about.”

Yondu could have picked up his youngest granddaughter with the same amount of effort Thanos used to lift him off the ground. He wouldn’t have lifted Makeda by the neck, but the energy required was about the same. Yondu kicked his feet a little, gripping the edges of Thanos’s fingers and glaring mutinously at him. “She is mine, Centaurian. I do not require you alive to retrieve her, but it would be simpler. Tell me where she is and I will spare you today.” His eyes slipped sideways to regard Peter. “Both of you.”

Yondu’s eyes darted down to where Peter was watching him with a horrified expression on his face. “Don’ you dare,” he wheezed. “We don’ sell family, Quill. Not ever.”

Peter’s head shook once and he whispered, “Not my family.” He struggled to his feet and yelled at Thanos, “Stop! Don’t hurt him. I’ll tell you.”

As Thanos slowly put him down, Yondu curled up. He didn’t look at Peter.

He just couldn’t.

***

Kraglin sat up suddenly with a gasp. His hand shot out sideways and met Luway’s arm as she came up next to him, breathing just as hard. In the baby pouch on the wall, Makeda began to scream in terror. “Something’s wrong,” Luway whispered in horror.

***

“What is that sound?!” Drani Obfonteri stumbled out of her bedroom and into the hallway, her hands over her ears to muffle the shrill whistles and screams echoing through her home. Amadi joined her a moment later, just as confused. “Are they saying something?” she demanded. “What’s going on?”

Amadi stared and only had a moment to open his arms before Shayna barrelled into him, sobbing. Thulani was right behind her, followed by Ayodele with her crest fanned high in alarm. All three of them clicked and whistled the same terrified message: “He’s got Grandpa.” He hugged them all, closed his eyes tight.

“It’s okay,” he said in his halting, stumbling Centaurian. “Grandpa’s strong. He’ll get away.”

“What’s going on?” Drani demanded again, more worried now.

Amadi looked at Kraglin and Luway’s children, suddenly realizing that in a very real way, they were his nieces and nephew. His crest bounced nervously and he reached to touch Ayo’s shoulder while she reached back with a little whimper. “Something happened to my dad,” he said quietly. “Don’ know what, but they can feel it.”

Kraglin’s mother paused and Amadi looked up at her, meeting her worried, sympathetic eyes. “Why can’t you?”

He looked away and hugged Thulani closer. “I don’t know.”

***

The communication light blinked twice and Terraxia accepted the call without thinking about it. “Yes?”

“Terraxia.” Thanos’s voice poured over her senses like honey and she closed her eyes to savor it before she looked up. He was smiling at her, a genuine pleasure shining in his eyes. “I have need of you, my darling.”

Excitement flushed her skin and she smiled at him, hopeful. She tried to push the hope away; she knew the limits of his affection and the extent of his needs. “I am at your service, my lord.”

“There is a commodity I require collected from Xandar, darling. Collected with subtlety and grace.” He shifted and rested his chin in his hand, eyes glittering. “Do this for me.”

“Xandar.” A commodity. He seldom used euphemisms unless he was feeling good. “I’m assuming that means you would prefer I avoid direct invasion, my lord.” Thanos chuckled and nodded and Terraxia tried not to flush with pleasure. “What am I to collect?”

“Four Centaurians, two males, two females. They will not wish to accompany you, but you must be firm with them, darling. Firm but not lethal.” He sat up straighter again. “They may have a caretaker. I am less concerned with the preservation of any staff, but I want all four Centaurians unharmed.”

Terraxia tried to keep the disgust off her face. “Yes, my lord.” She could hear Maw’s taunting voice suggesting that Thanos had developed a preference. Was he planning a breeding program, collecting two males and two females? “Where might I find them?”

“The Xandarian capital, in one of the adjunct governmental estates.”

“Why would they be there?” Terraxia wondered.

“They appear to be visiting Nova Prime’s civil rights aide.” Thanos shrugged and gave her an almost impish grin. “I look forward to your success, my darling. And you should look forward to my gratitude.”

“My lord.” She inclined her head and Thanos disconnected the communication. She stayed that way for a full count of thirty before she snapped into motion. She barked orders into the comm, charted her course, threatened soldiers with torture and death in order to inspire speed. When the _Obliterator_ began to make its first series of jumps toward Xandar, Terraxia sank deep into her chair and rubbed her chin, glaring at the communications screen.

Blasted Centaurians. She was rapidly wishing she had never agreed to leave the crew of the _Paiksykine_ alive in exchange for the single foul-mouthed woman. She had held onto the hope that Thanos would be more interested in breaking her spirit, destroying her for her defiance, perhaps just enjoying the process of torturing her. She hadn’t expected him to become fond of her. She hadn’t expected him to start collecting them. Terraxia stood up and kicked out at one of the other chairs in the room, watching it break from its mooring and smash satisfyingly against the wall. The only thing that would have made the act more satisfying would have been if there was someone in the chair. Preferably someone blue.

***

Esi woke up at the sound of the baby’s desperately terrified screaming and whistling. Something in her chest lurched at the sound and she floundered out of the acceleration field, seeking blindly to comfort. The sound made her breasts ache and her stomach twist. Behind her, Peya whispered her name but Esi didn’t stop until she had half-collided with the door to Kraglin and Luway’s cabin. She looked for a communication alert, then just knocked, trying not to pound. When the door slid open, Makeda was finally calming down and Esi found herself face-to-face with Kraglin. The Xandarian stared at her, his eyes a little wild. “What.”

“ _Mbebe_ ,” Esi said helplessly and watched his face relax into a sheepish smile.

“She wake you up? Sorry ‘bout that. Nightmare.” He rubbed his hand over his face and shook his head. “She’ll be fine in a minute.”

Esi turned her head slightly to regard him. “What is it?” she asked. “What aren’t you saying?” Kraglin’s face slowly seemed to crystallize before he sighed and shook his head. “Tell me, Kraglin. Please.”

“Something happened to my father and brother,” Luway supplied as she came to stand next to Kraglin. Makeda was cradled in her pouch, nursing more from nerves than hunger. “She felt it. So did we.”

“What happened?” Esi asked.

Kraglin shrugged, a helplessly worried look on his face. “Somethin’. We can’t tell beyond that. They aren’ dead, we can tell that much. But whatever it is, it ain’t good. We need to regroup with the _Eclector_ and figure out what to do next.” He paused and looked at Esi. “After we’ve dropped you back with your ship, o’course.”

Esi studied them both, then looked down to where the top of Makeda’s head poked out of Luway’s pouch. “I’d rather help,” she admitted softly. “Whatever happened wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t been rescuing me.” She jumped a little when Peya slipped up beside her and wrapped her arms around her waist. “Us,” Esi amended.

“No,” Luway said. “We need to finish our job, return you to your ship. If you want to help us after that, we can discuss it but I don’t want to bring you into this until our contract is finished.” When Esi shivered her crest curiously, Luway smiled. “Purely mercenary. If we finish our contract with your ship’s captain, we’re no longer liable for your wellbeing. Until that job’s finished, you’re business. Not a friend.”

“But…” Esi let a slow smile curl her lips, “after that, we can discuss being friends?”

“You’d be more than welcome,” Luway grinned. “My kid slept in your pouch. She actually _slept_.”

Esi smiled and hugged Peya’s arms. “It would be nice to have more Centaurian friends. There aren’t many of us out here.”

“It’s true,” agreed Luway with a sigh. “In the meantime, we need to get you home so we can make plans from there.”

“Should only be a few more hours,” Kraglin called back from the cockpit.

“I’m not sleeping,” Esi said and Luway grinned.

“Yeah, me, neither.”

“No sleep,” agreed Peya in a small voice.

Kraglin came back to where the women were clustered in the hall, a thoughtful expression on his face. He looked at Peya and asked her a question in the lyrical, musical language of the Krylorians. She jerked and stared openly at him before answering back in the same language with a growing smile. He grinned and nodded. “Three years of Krylorian in school paid off, finally.”

“Words sound wrong,” Peya informed him and he looked embarrassed.

“Maybe we can work on it.”

“Maybe,” she agreed, but she sounded skeptical.

While Kraglin was still blushing his way back to the cockpit, Peya hugged Esi tightly and whispered, “We help.”

“Yes,” Esi agreed as she hugged her close. “As soon as we get back to the _Paiksykine_ , I’ll talk to Kris and the crew and we’ll see what we can do to help them..”

“Good.”


	15. Chapter 15

Ayodele huddled on her grandmother’s couch, her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms around them. She couldn’t make her crest lay flat to save her life and her danger sense continued to scream in the back of her mind, overwhelming her with the unbearable knowledge that Yondu and Peter were in trouble. She had heard the voice of the Mad Titan when he spoke to Yondu, had felt Peter’s surge of panic and guilt. She could still feel them both alive but Yondu’s consciousness pulsed with emotional pain, grief, and fear. He was worried about them while they worried about him.

She could feel her parents reaching to check on her and Ayo closed her eyes. She reached back, sensed their relief and worry. Her mother’s touch pulsed and shone with pride and love. Her father’s more tentative contact wrapped her mind in love as securely as if his arms were around her. She sent them answering love, admitted her fear and promised to defend her younger siblings. Thanos is coming, she thought.

Their interconnected Way didn’t pass words, only emotions, and perceptions. Both of her parents acknowledged her fear of the looming danger, the overwhelming size of the threat. Neither of them tried to deny it. She could feel herself starting to cry and almost immediately, Thulani’s mind touched hers and she heard his footsteps as he came down the hall. Without a word, her brother crawled up beside her on the couch and snuggled up under her arm, his head on her shoulder and his arms around her. Every beat of his heart pulsed out love and community and trust, his belief that everything would work out as long as they stayed together.

“I will never leave you behind,” she whistled softly to him.

“I know.” Thulani nuzzled her shoulder and sighed. “Shay knows, too. She just doesn’t believe it.”

“Do you?” Ayo whispered in Common.

“Course,” he murmured back. “‘parently, I got the predator’s share of faith in the family.”

Ayodele chuckled and stroked her hand over his crest. “Love you, baby brother.”

“Love you, too, _kl’kambe_.” The word Thulani clicked didn’t translate directly into Common but meant an older relative, especially one who has spent time raising the speaker. It could denote anything from an elderly parent to a six-month older cousin. Ayo smiled and hugged his head.

***

“We should move.” Amadi and Drani stood in the kitchen of her beautifully-appointed suite of rooms. “Unless you can up security around here. The kids all think somethin’s coming for them.”

Drani shook her head dismissively. “I know they’re upset about Yondu, but we have the best security available. This is a government residential facility. We’re guarded by the whole of the Nova Corps.” She reached up to run her fingers through her long, carefully maintained white hair, then set to braiding it back. She was an attractive older woman who didn’t look nearly old enough to be Kraglin’s mother but the family resemblance was undeniable, especially around the eyes. “What could possibly be coming for them?”

“Don’ know, but they’re scared.” Amadi crossed his arms over his chest with a huff and added, “An’ if there’s one thing I know, it’s that if a Centaurian kid is scared, there’s a damn good reason for it. You’ve got three of ‘em and they’re all tapped into the same Way. They’re all scared’a the same thing.”

She studied him and Amadi looked away from her quickly. She had pressed him on and off since the kids had woken up to explain why they could feel something was wrong and he couldn’t. His lack of an answer had not been popular with a woman used to getting answers. Amadi had always been aware of his own lack of connection to his father and adopted sister, been jealous when the Way manifested for Kraglin and not for him. He ached for that kind of kinship and always had, but his temper just wouldn’t let him bend enough to be a part of the family.

But, as fractured a family as they were by Centaurian standards, they had become closer than even a few years ago. Amadi tried to keep from thinking about the beating that had left him unconscious for a week in the infirmary after he’d shoved Thulani and Ayodele had seen it. He had been thirteen, Ayo seven and Thulani and Shayna only two, but Ayo had still beaten him senseless and had to be physically restrained from killing him for threatening her baby brother. He had learned his lesson after that but by then it was too late: Luway looked at him with hate in her eyes and spoke to him with distrust in her tone. Kraglin watched him like a hawk if the children were around. Yondu kept trying to give him his own ship, encouraged him to take time away from the Eclector, to get out on his own. He had missed his chance at a family.

Or so he’d thought. And then Kraglin had suggested he take care of the kids. In Kraglin’s mother’s own home. He had watched Luway’s nervousness and doubt, but Ayodele had looked him in the eye, steady and measuring and willing to give him a chance. Now, all three of them had run to him for comfort. Not Drani. Him.

“Amadi?” Thulani leaned into the kitchen and Amadi and Drani both looked up. The younger boy walked across the floor and tucked himself up against Amadi’s chest, arms snaking under his Ravager jacket. Instinctively, Amadi wrapped his arms around him. Amadi usually went without a shirt under the jacket but had agreed to wear a tank-top while he was staying with Drani. Thulani made an irritated noise when his hands found the tank-top and he jerked it up and snuggled in again, skin-to-skin.

Amadi chuckled. “Sorry,” he whistled. “Gramma made me.” For whatever reason, Thulani had always been the snuggler of the Obfonteri kids, even with the uncle who had pushed him as a baby. Long before anyone else had accepted him, Thulani had been snuggling up against him and demanding hugs. If not for Thulani, Amadi’s skin would have been in far worse condition than it was.

“Gramma’s a single,” Thulani replied with a rude sound in his throat.

“Careful,” Amadi laughed, “she might not speak Centaurian but she knows what that sounds means.”

“What did he say?” Drani asked irritably. “Thulani, what did you say? Tell me.”

“Nothing,” Thulani said in Common.

“You sound exactly like your father when you lie,” she informed him. “Don’t think I can’t hear your tone when you whistle.”

Thulani huffed and clicked quietly to Amadi, “Something big is coming.”

“Do you know what?”

“Ayo said ‘Thanos’.” Thulani had to switch to Common phonemes to pronounce the Titan’s name and Amadi winced. “It scares her but I don’t know what it means and she won’t explain.”

“Thanos?” Drani asked in a small voice. Her face paled and one hand came up to her throat, tracing the edge of her collar nervously. “What about Thanos?”

“Why would Thanos be coming here?” Amadi asked him, trying to keep his own fear out of his voice and briefly thankful he wasn’t tapping into the same Way as the younger boy.

“Us.”

Amadi hugged him harder. “Shit,” he sighed in Common and met Drani’s eyes over Thulani’s shoulder.

“I’ll call for more security,” she whispered and turned quickly to run for a communicator.

***

Terraxia stared at the tactical globe of Xandar that hung in space ahead of her. She turned the globe to the side, rotated it back the other way. She used her fingers to zoom into the overview of the capital city, flagged the governmental residences, narrowed her search down to Nova Prime’s personal staff. Near her door, she heard a sound of inarticulate disgust and glanced up to see the captain of her Kree guards. At least, she thought he was the captain now. She had killed her last three captains. They were fragile enough that she’d given up trying to learn their names. “Can I help you, Captain?”

“Yes, my lady,” he replied, straightening up. “Will you be descending to the surface yourself or will you send my soldiers?”

“Both, I think,” Terraxia murmured. “I want two squadrons of your fighters to aggress the city here,” she pointed out a line of buildings on the far side of the city, “and here,” she indicated another cluster of buildings outside of the city limits. “I will land here,” she marked a spot near where the governmental residences stood, “and proceed alone from there. I want you to keep the Nova Corps forces occupied until I recall your squads to the Obliterator. I think I can handle four captives.”

“Yes, my lady,” the guard said and inclined his head.

Terraxia studied him for a moment and asked, “What was your name again, Captain? I seem to have forgotten.”

“Mor-Varr, my lady. And I would be surprised if you ever knew it.”

Terraxia raised her eyebrows and smirked. “Bold for a man whose predecessors have all died by my hand.”

Mor-Varr shrugged. “I’d rather earn my death than blunder into it without cause.”

“Just so.” Terraxia rocked back in her chair and watched him with hooded eyes for a moment. “Direct your men from orbit, Captain Mor-Varr. I may have use for you yet.”

“Yes, my lady.” Mor-Varr bowed to her and vanished again.

***

Thanos paced the length of his chambers, deep in thought. Petra tucked herself up against the pillows of his bed, watching him pace with a nervous expression on her face. When he caught sight of her expression, he slowed his pacing and smiled at her. “Do not trouble yourself, dear one. I am not upset with you.”

“I know, my lord,” Petra replied and Thanos was surprised to see a flash of irritation in her face. He had never known her to be irritated with him. “I am only worried for my sister and curious as to what you intend to do with four Centaurians.”

“Have I not told you?” Thanos grinned at her. He had seldom known childish delight, but he was beginning to understand the appeal. “Come with me. I’ll show you.” Petra stood up from the bed and went to take his hand as he guided her out of the chambers and down the hallway. “While I had hoped Terraxia or Ebony Maw might have collected Esi by now, I must admit that the lapse in time has given me the opportunity to consider and study the Centaurian race.” He turned a corner and continued, “They are a terribly clannish people and live in tribes on their home planet. From what I gathered in my research, Esi is of the plains tribes: swifter in motion, more graceful than nimble, and with finer features than some of the other tribes.” When they reached a long panel of shuttered viewport, Thanos stopped with a smile. “And, as we learned first-hand, all Centaurians cope poorly with solitude. So.”

Petra’s eyes widened when he opened the shutters of the viewport to reveal a massive open area, easily three times the size of his own chambers with a high ceiling and what looked like natural grass underfoot. The walls were holographic, depicting rolling fields of the same kind of grass, giving a vastly open feeling like standing under a summer sky in unbroken, untouched plains land. In one area stood a little cluster of hide-and-wooden frame huts with sloped walls and smoke slowly issuing from a cooking hole near the top. “This is… incredible, my lord,” she whispered.

Thanos could hear the pang of jealousy in her voice and sighed, reached down and stroked her hair. “Fear not, dear one. You will always have a place beside me.” It occurred to him that while Petra had been spending most of her nights curled beside him in his bed, he had not favored her with much attention beyond the barest affections and seeing to her needs. Perhaps she would benefit from more of his attention. He traced her face with his thumb and smiled when she looked up at him, her eyes half-closed in pleasure at his touch. “I reward loyalty like yours,” he murmured softly and leaned down to kiss her.

“My lord,” she answered and wrapped her arms around his neck as he held her close. “My love. I am always yours, faithfully.”

“I know,” he smiled, “and I treasure it.” He paused, briefly glanced out the viewport at the rolling plains of the enclosure and triggered the shutters to close before he scooped Petra up against him and carried her back toward his chambers. He could treasure her faithfulness for as long as her short lifespan allowed. He knew he would miss her when she grew old and feeble and he had to decide to end her pain. He would miss her soft kisses and her sounds of pleasure when he touched her, the light in her eyes when he said her name. He would miss her hands on his back, pressing away the stresses of his day.

Or was that Peya? Yes, Peya was the masseuse. Petra was the tea connoisseur.

And Esi…

He felt a stirring in his blood at the thought of her. She would soon be returned to him. She would see the grand chamber he had built for her, tailored to her home, and she would see the people he had acquired to be her companions. Her own people, children she could care for and a male she may wish to mate with to produce children of her own. Thanos grinned to himself at the thought: she may wish to mate with one of her own kind. Or she may wish to mate exclusively with him. He would never know for certain unless she had the opportunity to choose.

To choose as Petra had chosen.

Thanos paused in nosing her inner thigh to regard his pet where she writhed in his blankets. She was a beautiful creature he thought as he flicked his tongue between her wet folds and she arched her back with a soft cry. So gentle, so steady in her faith, so giving of her affection. He stroked his fingertip a little deeper and listened to her moan with a satisfied smile. She could have chosen to fight, to refuse to love him, to see only the monster within the Titan. Instead, she had chosen to serve him and all but worshipped the Titan in the monster. When she tightened on his finger, he curled the tip just a little and flicked his tongue again until she was gasping and all but screaming his name.

The least he could do, he thought to himself, was to make her comfortable.


	16. Chapter 16

Kris slapped the dash when the communicator blinked. “Captain Krised Furlan of the Paiksykine. Talk quick, Ravager.”

“Listen to the mouth on you.”

Around him, the bridge erupted into wild cheers and Kris stopped to put his forehead down on his wrist with a low groan of relief. The video engaged and Esi grinned back at her crew, a Krylorian woman half-wrapped around her waist. “I’m sacrificing a fucking herbivore to every god in the galaxy,” he said when he looked up at her. “It’s so damn good to see you, Esi.”

“It’ll be a massacre,” Esi smiled and her crest rose and shook with emotional overload that her face couldn’t quite contain. “We’re two jumps out, Kris. We needed to stop for a break but we’ll be at the rendezvous soon.”

“I could kiss you.”

“We could all kiss you!” shouted Gorjin and Esi grinned.

“Take turns, at least,” she replied and her face sobered quickly. “I missed you all, but we’re not out of the woods yet. It’s really important and I’ll tell you everything when we’re all standing on the same deck. But I can’t walk away from this. Not yet.”

“Whatever you need, Esi,” Kris said. “Just come home.”

“I’m trying, Captain,” she smiled brilliantly. “See you in a few.”

***

A few hours later, the big Ravager ship popped into space and rotated for docking. Gorjin maneuvered the Paiksykine into position and the ships joined up. Both were too large to dock with the other, but the coupling ducts worked just fine. On the Ravager end, Kraglin smiled and opened the door for Esi. “See you soon.”

“Thank you,” she whispered and hugged him quickly, then she and Peya darted into the duct and sailed out of the Eclector’s artificial gravity. Esi’s crest flared in joy and excitement when she saw the other end of the duct opening and felt the atmosphere pressurize. Kris propelled himself down the duct toward her and they met in the middle in a tight hug that had them both crying.

“I thought I’d never see you again,” Kris whispered as he hugged her tight. “You were wrong, you know. I do love you.”

“That’s nice,” Esi giggled softly and kissed his cheek. “I’ll always love you as my captain, Kris, but I’m… kind of taken now.” She looked over her shoulder at Peya, who had turned a rather fascinating shade of magenta.

Kris blinked and tilted his head to see the Krylorian hovering there and then smiled quietly. “I think I understand.” He cupped his hand to Esi’s cheek. “Welcome home, Lieutenant. You going to introduce me to your partner or do I have to wait for the wedding ceremony?”

“Let’s get back under gravity first,” giggled Esi. When Kris turned back to return to his ship, Esi reached and laced her fingers through Peya’s. “ _Sha beh_ ,” she whispered and Peya beamed at her.

When they hit the airlocks, the sound was deafening. The entire crew was packed into a tiny space, all clamoring for her attention and generally welcoming her home. She found herself passed from hand to familiar hand, kissed and embraced and passed on to the next person. She managed to keep her fingers locked on Peya’s and the crew seemed just as excited to see her, hugging the Krylorian and cheering. When Kris’s hands found the sides of her face again and he kissed her, Esi let her crest flare up in joy, arched to shade his face. “Welcome home,” he whispered against her mouth.

“It’s good to be here,” she whispered back. As things settled down, she reached for Peya and added, “Peya, this is my captain, Kris Furlan. Captain, my partner, Peya.”

“It's my pleasure,” Kris smiled and offered his hand to Peya, who took it between her own and bowed over it slightly.

“And mine,” she said softly. “Made much of my _shebebe_ ’s captain.” Her eyes lifted and Kris grinned at the slightly coy expression he read there. “You tried to..." she trailed off and made a gesture with her hands, indicating pregnancy and then nodded to Esi. "Her gratitude for that extends.” She pulled her hands toward Esi, then in a circle toward herself. “My gratitude.”

“I would be honored to try again,” Kris said and held out his hand to Peya, palm up. “For you both.”

“I cannot,” Peya smiled quietly. “Esi may. I cannot.”

“As much as this conversation is wonderful and important,” Esi cut in gently, “as I mentioned, we’re not out of this yet. Thanos has Yondu Udonta and Peter Quill. I’m honor-bound to help the Ravagers rescue them.”

“Honor-bound?” Kris asked in surprise and let Esi and Peya pull him to the side of the room while the rest of the crew continued to revel. “What am I missing? I know Udonta is Centurian, but…”

“Yondu is the patriarch,” Esi explained. “He’s adoptive father to Quill and both of the other adult Centaurians on his crew, Amadi and Luway. His first mate is also his son-in-law. The Ravagers on that ship are more than just a crew of mercenaries, Captain. They’re a family and more than that. They’re a Centaurian clan.” She put her hands on Kris’s chest and leaned in to peg him with a firm look. “They opened their own Way. They’re all connected. That is sacred in ways I’m not sure I can ever explain to someone outside of my own race, Kris. We have to help them.”

Kris paused to meet her eyes, then cupped her face in his palms and kissed her. “My ship is yours.”

***

Thanos paced his rooms. It had been too long. He thought of Petra and discarded the thought; she was too fragile for his current mood. Terraxia would have been ideal, but she was still en route to retrieving his requested cargo from Xandar. What he wanted was Esi. He wanted Esi naked, bound, her head pulled back so he could stroke her throat as he fucked her from behind. Frustrated, he growled and paced another length of the room.

Two more circuits of the room and still unable to banish the hunger, Thanos turned sharply away and stalked down the hallway. He opened the door of Petra’s chambers without knocking and watched as she floundered into a sitting position in her bed. Her eyes were round as he approached, slammed the door behind him. “On your knees, child,” he growled. “Now.”

Petra waited a moment, then flowed out of the bed and onto her knees at his feet. “My lord,” she gasped, “I am yours.”

Thanos struggled to keep the sneer from his lip. He wanted her to fight him. He wanted Esi’s fire, even Terraxia’s arrogance. This subservience was gratifying but it did nothing to soothe his hunger. As he stared down at Petra, he realized with a pang of disappointment that she was no longer interesting to him. Steady, unwaveringly loyal, yes. But uninteresting.

He unfastened the waistband of his pants, shed them in a heap. “Your mouth,” he growled. Petra looked up at him, her eyes wide. He waited and then reached down to present his cock to her, insistent and hard. “Your mouth, my pet. Now.”

Petra paused for only a second before her hands came up to his hips and she took him into her mouth. Thanos grunted once, low in his throat before he put his hand on the back of her head and held her there, moderating her movements until he found the pressure and depth his aching cock needed. He felt her struggle, her hands pushing on his skin but only enough to give herself room to breathe. He growled and pulled her head down again. "No," he said and Petra's eyes flashed up to meet his. "You will do this as I wish." He watched the realization and the fear in her face and smiled, his erection throbbing as satisfaction at that fear flushed his skin. Roughly, he held her head and snapped his hips forward to push himself deeper into her mouth. She made a small, terrified sound and Thanos closed his eyes, his head back. He felt her struggle again, instinctive and panic-filled before her mouth convulsed around him and he felt her gag. He growled out a few half-words in Titan before he spilled himself into her mouth, holding her in position until he was finished.

When he let her go, Petra doubled over herself and choked, coughing and hugging her stomach. Thanos watched her as she spat his cum onto the floor, then vomited once and curled her arms over her face as she sobbed. Loyalty deserved better than what he had just done and the Mad Titan felt a pang of regret. Petra was not to blame for not being Esi, for not being Terraxia, for not being a woman with fire in her blood and defiance in her soul. After a moment, he sighed and dropped down to his knees beside her, reached to pull her hair away from her face and held it back over her shoulders. "I'm sorry, my pet," he whispered. "I have misused you and that was unconscionable." She shied from his touch and Thanos winced.

"I am yours, my lord," she rasped. Thanos could hear the pain in her voice, the raw edges of her emotion and the equally raw sounds of her abused throat. "Forever, I am yours."

Guilt throbbed in his chest and Thanos sighed, rubbing absently at his breastbone before he stood and said, "If you require anything, I will see it done. Rest now. Call for me if you have need." When Petra didn't look up at him, he exhaled sharply through his nose and turned away.

He tried very hard not to hear her quiet sobbing as the door to her quarters clicked shut behind him.

 

***

Yondu leaned against the wall beside the door of his cell. He could hear Quill humming to himself in one of the other cells, one of those songs he loved so well. He had heard them so many times now that he thought he might actually recognize this one in spite of Quill's mildly tone-deaf rendition. How any species could produce pieces with the complexity of harmonics he had heard in the Earth music and still give birth to children without a natural ear for tonality would always be a puzzle to him. When Peter reached the chorus, Yondu sighed and let his head drop back against the wall as he started to whistle along.

Peter stopped humming and said, "Yondu?"

"Yeah," Yondu answered.

"You've got a plan, right?"

Yondu smiled to himself and shook his head slowly. "Sure, kid. I've got a plan."

"One that doesn't involve us dying, right?"

"I dunno. Dying works sometimes." He closed his eyes and sighed. "Where there's a will, there's Luway."

Peter was quiet for a long time before asking, "Yondu?"

"Yeah."

"Is she really my sister?"

"She ever lie to you, boy?"

"I guess not."

Yondu smiled. "There's yer answer." They sat in silence, then Yondu said, "Quill."

"Yeah?"

"What song was that?"

"Help Is on Its Way," Peter said and Yondu could hear the slight smile. "Little River Band. 1977."

Yondu chuckled and nodded. "Hang on, kid," he murmured. "She'll be here as fast as she can."

***

Drani Obfonteri hustled her grandchildren down a narrow back alley, her head high and her eyes wide. Ayodele was right behind her while the twins shuffled between their sister and their uncle. Amadi had his pistol out and held low, guarding the back of their little procession. They could hear the sounds of the attack happening across the city. They had all agreed that they were better off not being where Thanos expected to find them. Ayo and Amadi both had their crests clamped tightly to their scalps. Drani knew enough about Centaurian body language by now to recognize their fear. She ducked out to check a crossroads, then beckoned the kids across. When they were huddled on the other side, she grabbed Amadi's shoulder. The stocky man stopped, his crest popping up a quarter inch before clamping back down again. "What?"

"What are we going to do?" she whispered, trying to keep the panic from her own voice. "We're not safe out here and it's too obvious to go back to the embassy. Do we just run around randomly all night and hope he gives up?"

Amadi's dark eyes closed for a moment and he sighed. "Thanos ain't gonna give up. If he wants us, he'll keep lookin'. I just wish I knew why he wanted us." Thulani made a soft, whimpering sound in his throat and Amadi reached to hug the younger boy. "Don' really matter," he sighed and ran one hand over Thulani's crest. "Let's go."

Before they could take more than a few steps, Ayodele whistled a sharp warning and her crest popped tall in alarm. She was carrying one of Amadi's pistols and fired it ahead of her as she backed quickly toward her family. The adults crowded close to the younger ones and Amadi looked behind him in despair when he realized they were surrounded: there were Kree soldiers in every available exit from their alley. He could hear Ayo cussing in Centaurian and she shot at one of them again. Amadi aimed at one of the other soldiers on his end of the alley before flaring his crest with bravado he really wasn't feeling and yelling, "Clear off! We're not goin' anywhere with you!"

The Kree studied them for a moment and then one of them grunted an order and another's muzzle flashed. Drani screamed and went down, clutching her shoulder. "Our orders are for the Centaurians," the first said in heavily accented Common. "Come quietly if you care about her at all."

Shayna and Thulani were hugging their grandmother while Ayo maintained her aim on the far end of the alley. "Amadi?" she whistled and he winced at the fear there. "What do we do?"

"Run," Drani hissed at them. "I'll be okay. Just get them out of here. I'm tougher than I look." Amadi looked down at her in surprise and she gave him a fierce grin that reminded him of Kraglin. "Go."

"I don'--"

He never got to finish his protest when the Xandarian woman lurched up from her crouch with a wild cry and started firing a pistol none of them had realized she had. "Go!" she screamed at them and Amadi bolted, grabbed Shayna around the waist when she protested and sprinted through the opening Drani had blasted with her gun. A burst of light ahead of him briefly blinded him as something exploded in the street and he heard Ayo scream, more a sound of defiance and surprise than pain. They scrambled out into the wider street, shooting as Kree soldiers tried to swarm them. Amadi got one in the face while Ayo shot another in the shoulder.

"Ayo!" Thulani's voice reached them and Amadi and Ayodele both stopped in their tracks to look back, crests flared high. A tall woman with violet skin and long, shaggy black hair was grinning at them, holding Shayna's twin brother against her chest with a knife to his throat. "I'm sorry," Thulani gasped.

"Well, well, well," Terraxia chuckled. "Isn't this just a pretty sight. Drop your weapons."

Amadi closed his eyes on a white flash in his mind and then dropped to his knees, hands to his head. Ayo dropped beside him, her hands on his shoulders and her voice worried in his ears.

And then it wasn't her voice that told him she was worried. It was her mind.

The Way opened and Amadi choked on it, his eyes wide and his mind raw as he toppled down to the pavement, unconscious.


End file.
